The Apostle
by YuZuKi-sama969
Summary: Supposedly, Allen Walker is dead. It's hard on everyone, but they are all the more determined to defeat the Earl now. But who is the new child Noah, the one legend calls the apostle of two Gods? AN: Penname changed used to be Kagine324
1. 1st Night

The Apostle

1st Night: The Destroyer of Time Destroyed

* * *

**Disclaimers**: I do not own any D. Gray-Man characters/settings. They rightfully belong to Mr. Katsura Hoshino.

* * *

When she awoke, the first thing she saw was a worn stone ceiling and the worried face of her white haired companion. His eyebrows were drawn together, his silver gray eyes reflecting concern, and she felt him put a hand on her forehead, feeling for a fever. Upon seeing her open her eyes, his face lit up in relief, and he grasped her hand as if afraid that she would disappear if he didn't. 

"A...llen?" she said, struggling to get the words out. Her head felt fuzzy, and her body felt bruised and painful, but she could barely feel her legs. "What happened to me?" she asked.

"An Akuma caught you unaware, Miss Lee," a Finder said, poking his head into her line of vision. He was covered in dust and grime, and his off white coat was smeared with a bit of drying blood. Turning to Allen, he said, "They're wandering the hills several hundred yards north from here. Apparently, they lost interest in killing now that they've evolved again."

"All right," Allen said, nodding his acknowledgment. He straightened up and adjusted his coat, then he gave her a warm smile. "I'll be going now, Lenalee. There are five Akuma on the loose, and I don't want them to harm this town any more."

"But they were all Level Twos when we arrived! If they all evolved, then that means they're all Level Three! Allen, I'm going with you," she gasped, attempting to stand up, just to fall back, gasping in pain. Her legs burnt with pain, and looking down, she realized that one of her ankles were swollen and discolored. Her head gave a sudden throb, and the world seemed to spin. "Ugh!"

"You can't fight, Lenalee," Allen said calmly, putting a blanket around her shoulders. "Your head got hit directly by supersonic waves, and you couldn't even balance yourself before you fell unconscious. Your ankle's twisted badly, too."

"But I can't let you fight them all alone," she argued. "You won't stand a chance against five Level Three Akuma."

Something in Allen's silver gray eyes crashed, as if she'd stepped on a crumbling cliff, sending him own into the depths of darkness..."I'll try my best," he said. "You just go back to headquarters, Lenalee, because your injuries need to be treated. There are no more doctors in the surrounding towns, so you'll need Bookman."

"I can't leave you here!" she said angrily. Something moved in the corner of her eyes, and four more Finders came into view.

"We have already agreed with Walker," one of them said to her, his face wrinkled with worry for both of them. His gray hair was tied back with a leather string, and the hood on his coat was black with soot. "I will be staying with him while the others take you back."

"I won't-"

"Lenalee, listen," Allen said, grabbing her gently by the shoulders. "I can't fight while protecting you, you understand that as well, don't you? And if you don't have your ankle treated as soon as possible, you won't ever be able to walk. You have to go back."

"I-"

"You believe in me, don't you?"

"_What?"_

_"_Don't you believe that I can beat them?" Allen asked innocently. "I told you before, didn't I? Sometimes, the most you could do is believe and trust in someone, and this is one of them. You can't fight in your condition, I can't fight while worrying about you. You have to go back."

She felt tears spring afresh in her eyes. She couldn't leave the younger Exorcist here, all alone, when they both knew he was less likely to survive than not. Even if he did, he would never be the same ever again. But he was right. She couldn't fight with these injuries, and he couldn't protect both of them, either. She had to go.

Reluctantly, she nodded her head in defeat. "I'll...believe in you, Allen," she said, "so don't let me down."

"Will try not to," Allen said, and he nodded to the Finders. "Put Lenalee in the carriage and leave the town the moment I leave for the hills. Head south. It's quicker, and the Akuma are less likely to notice you leaving," he told them, and he approached them and whispered something she couldn't hear. All of the Finders nodded, and two of them lifted her carefully in their arms, resting her gently on the velvet seats inside the carriage they had ridden on the way to the town.

"Allen," she called before the could close the door. The boy turned to look at her. "Be careful."

He smiled and turned his back to her before stepping out of the half demolished building.

As the carriage left the building and into the snowy world outside, Lenalee Lee felt time slow down. She tried to reach out for Allen, to call him back, to grasp his hand and cling on tightly, never to let him go...but he was too far away. A foreboding, sinking feeling weighed down her heart, and Allen's last smile flashed through her mind, followed by a most dreadful thought:

_I would never see that smile of his again.  
_

The image of Allen Walker, lying dead in the Black Order's great hall, made her heart clench. The unreal sounds of Allen gasping, clinging onto every breath he took, dying, rang in her ears.

_Go away- I don't want to see- don't want to hear...Allen!_

Lenalee screamed, felt herself sitting up, and opened her eyes.

Bright light poured in through an open window, and she could hear the distant buzz of a golem flying by. A fresh wind played with her hair, and she could hear people moving on the other side of a heavy oak door. The intense smell of antiseptic reached her nose, and she immeditely recognized the room as the medical section of the Black Order. It was warm.

Alarmed, Lenalee whipped around to look out the window. The trees outside the tower were covered in bright green leaves, and the sun was bright, blinding. It was nearly summer.

_Of course, _she thought, _it was all a dream..._

_No._

_It was a memory._

That snowy day in the half destroyed town was real. It was Christmas Eve, and Akuma had attacked the town, crushing the holiday mood in their ugly, metallic hands. They'd defeated her, she couldn't fight, and Allen had gone to fight them. Alone. She'd left him there, she'd ran away. She abandoned him.

She left him there to die all alone.

Muffled sobs racked her body, made her feel like throwing up. Desperately, she scrambled out of the bed and nearly fell over. Her legs were wobbly under her weight, for the damage from the Akuma many months ago, and the shock afterwards, had left her nerves and mind damaged. She could still invoke her Innocence, but it was not as strong as before. She knew that she would never be able to fight like she did before.

"Allen," she cried, "Allen," as if it were a lifeline, or maybe if she repeated his name enough times, the boy would come clambering in through that door, Komui right after him, with a few bruises, smile at her when he saw her sitting here, ask her why she was crying...

But he didn't. She knew he wouldn't. It had been four months, after all, since she last saw him at that town. They both knew, even back then, that he wouldn't come back. He wouldn't have survived against five Level Three Akuma no matter how strong he was compared to her. She also knew that two Noah children had appeared after she'd left, followed shortly by the Millennium Earl himself. That was the last thing the Finder who was with Allen said before the communication was cut off. A month later, they found the old man's rotting body under the debris, but they never found Allen Walker's body. Even then, nobody bothered to hope that he was still alive.

If he was, he would have come back home much earlier.

The door creaked open.

"Allen!" Lenalee gasped, but she felt her hope extinguish itself when she saw Lavi enter, his tall red headed figure flinching when he heard the name. Of course...Lavi and Allen had been best friends, hadn't they?

"Hi," the boy said with a half smile. His one visible eye was hollow, allowing no emotion to make it shine. His heart had died with Allen, and thus so, the old Bookman said that the boy had completed his training. At that time, everyone knew that the least the old man could have done was give Lavi a task that strayed the boy away from the existence of Allen Walker, and he had retired to being just another old Exorcist, and Lavi had become Bookman. He recorded any movement in the war over the last four months, and he seldom smiled during that time, and Lenalee knew that the few remaining smiles were all leftovers from the time before, when Allen was still alive...

Everyone changed since then. Even Kanda seemed more sensitive, more caring towards others. He never mentioned Allen as 'Moyashi' again, and it was on a rare occasion that he even talked about the boy. He never lost his temper with grieving comrades, and he never questioned Komui's orders, just silently obeyed, like a puppet. The only thing that drove the Exorcists to fight was just that: the loss of Allen Walker. They had all sworn never to have someone like him happen again.

Shaking the thoughts from her head, she smiled at Lavi. "Hi," she said, "Bookman."

"I'm keeping my old alias," Lavi said, shrugging. "Panda geezer didn't seem to care either, and it's easier for you guys, isn't it?"

"Everything's so different now," Lenalee responded. "I don't think I would have noticed if someone changed their name."

"That's a low blow, girl," the Bookman said quietly and helped Lenalee back onto the bed. "Don't overwork yourself. You know you have to rest."

"I've been in and out of this room ever since that mission," she complained. "I want to be able to move again."

"Heh, but you know you won't be able to beat me and Yu in a hundred mile race anymore," Lavi teased.

"Not unless I have Krory carry me," Lenalee retorted. She looked at Lavi and narrowed her eyes. "By the way, why the sudden visit?"

Lavi grimaced and peered at her bandaged legs. "Yu's been sent on a mission, but he needs backup," he said. "He's safe, don't worry," he added hastily when Lenalee's eyes widened in shock. "Komui's asking panda geezer, me, and you to go help him, but..."

"Take me with you," she said firmly. "I can't fight, but I can still help treat the injured."

"That's settled then," the Bookman grinned. "We've already packed the medicines for you and a first aid kit as well. Food, too, just in case we can't find a place to stay. We'll be leaving in ten minutes, so I came to pick you up."

Lenalee looked around. There were no means of transport for her weak legs, but then she felt Lavi lift her off the bed and put her against his strong back. "Lavi-what?"

"Wheelchairs get in the way," he answered shortly. "I'm carrying you downstairs, and then the Finders will find something for you later." Without another word, he carried her out of the medical room and down to the river on the ground floor where they met up with the senior Bookman, who was sitting calmly in the boat. "We're ready, old man."

"It took you long enough," the man said as the younger Exorcists sat down behind him. Nodding to the Finder with the oar, Toma, he said, "Let's get going now."

"Where's the mission located?" Lenalee asked her comrades, who stiffened and exchanged looks with each other. "What?"

"Miss Lena, it is a new city located right where the demolished town once stood," the old man said, looking at her with blank eyes. "It is the same town where Allen Walker disappeared."

Flashes and scenes attacked her the moment the boy's name left the man's lips. The worn out ceiling...the snow covered rubble...the Akuma...a cracked bronze bell...Allen's last smile. Tears flooded her eyes and she clung to Lavi, her patted her shoulder gently.

"Sorry Lenalee, but it's also orders from the Grand Generals themselves," the boy said soothingly. "We...couldn't refuse."

"They say that a memorial was built for Sir Walker," Toma said suddenly, moving the oar back and forth. "It's located on the outskirts of the city under an ancient tree overlooking a hill. Sir Walker's cross stands right next to the grave of a man named Mana Walker."

"Mana?" Lenalee repeated, tasting the familiar name. "Isn't he...?"

"Walker's father," senior Bookman confirmed.

"Allen would be content with the location. In death, he lays beside his father," Lavi muttered.

Lenalee gripped Lavi's sleeve tighter, buried her face in his arm. "I want to see him," she whimpered. "I want to say good-bye to Allen. When we get there...could we go to that grave?"

* * *

This is my second D. Gray-Man story, and I'm really hoping you readers will like it. I hope I can finish this as well as the other one.  



	2. 2nd Night

The Apostle

2nd Night: The Next Chapter In the Scenario

* * *

**Disclaimers**: I do not own any D. Gray-Man characters/settings. They rightfully belong to Mr. Katsura Hoshino.

* * *

They joined up with Kanda at the station, a stone platform nearly obscured from sight by a veil of thick fog. The ebony colored steam engine screeched to a halt right in front of the Exorcist, who was in such a hurry that he nearly dragged Lenalee out of the train, although he remembered her injuries at the last moment and loosened his grasp on her hand immediately and, instead, gently helped her find her footing on the uneven bricks. 

"You're late," he said darkly to Lavi when they met eyes. The Bookman shrugged it off, and the group left the station in silence. Nobody felt at ease in this city, Lenalee seemed to be glad she wasn't alone here.

The streets they walked down were filled with life, stalls, and people. Lenalee, who had rarely left headquarters since Christmas, looked around like an excited child, her eyes lit up with curiosity. Kanda marched ahead, his eyes set straight, ignoring a chattering Lavi. It was only upon reaching the city square that he spoke.

"This is where the city's divided into two," he said, pointing north. "At the top of that hill by the old church, under the twisted tree- that's where his grave is."

A cold knife pierced through Lenalee, and by the look on Lavi's face, the same had happened to him. The mention of his gravesite was another blow against them, another proof that he really was dead. Until now, avoiding the subject of Allen's final resting place had been another way for them to deny that he was truly gone. But Kanda must have graduated from such nonsense, and he was telling them that they should do so as well.

They had to move on.

"Are you coming?" Kanda asked, eyeing Lenalee. She met his gaze and realized that he knew how reluctant and scared she actually was. Allen had been so important to her, like a little brother...could she really say good-bye to him? She shivered at the thought.

She felt somebody's strong arm wrap around her shoulders, and Lavi grinned down at her. "Let's go," he said, "and then we start this mission, ne?"

Lenalee nodded and allowed herself to be led down the cobblestone street, senior Bookman and Toma following her and Lavi. "We'll all go home together this time, won't we?" she whispered.

"'Course we will," Lavi replied confidently. "We'll all go back together and tell Komui all about our success, and then he'll hug you tightly, Yu will go eat soba, and I'll sleep."

"_Don't _say my first name," Kanda growled. He stiffened his shoulders and led them up to a rundown church, shrugging off its appearance as abandoned, and opened an iron gate that stood beside the building. The Exorcists and Finder gingerly stepped onto the rotting grass of the graveyard, looking around nervously, until their eyes landed on the hill at the center of the area, and the towering, twisted tree that stood over two crosses...

"Two?" Lavi asked the question on everyone's minds. Kanda didn't answer; instead, he silently went up the hill and waited for them to catch up.

Lenalee was the first to join him under the tree, being the most eager to see for herself the grave that had been built for Allen. She wasn't expecting, although, to see the name carved into the other cross-

"Mana...Walker..." she said in a trembling, breaking whisper. "His father?"

"They perished in the same city," Kanda muttered, as if it explained why Allen had died at all. "That one's his," he added, pointing to the newer cross, next to Mana's, and Lenalee was taken aback by how magnificent it looked compared to any of the other gravestones.

The cross was made of marble, the words carved into it in elegant letters, filled in with the finest gold ink that the city could find. There were roses and small flowers laid out on the ground in front of it, an offering to the boy who had saved their homes. There was a single silver button engraved into the stone, and Lenalee reached out to touch the rusted surface, the only piece of her lost friend that was left in this world.

"Hi, Allen," she whispered.

The others had caught up to her and Kanda now. Beside her, Lavi and Toma were kneeling by Kanda and looking at the older cross. The name of Mana Walker was etched into it by rough hands and was fading away by now, for no one had come to fix it during the past three years. But Lenalee could still see it clearly, the name of the person Allen had loved the most in the world.

"This is Mana Walker," senior Bookman said, tracing the letters with the tip of his wrinkled fingers. "His father?"

Lavi was staring at both graves with his green eye that nobody could understand. He clasped his hands together in a prayer, muttered to himself with his head bowed, and said to the grave of Mana Walker, "Your son, he continued walking until the very end, you know? Aren't you proud of him?"

As if in response, the tree that stood over the two crosses waved its long branches, singing a sad tune in the wind.

"We should get going," senior Bookman told the younger Exorcists.

"Miss Lee, take my hand..." Toma offered, and helped Lenalee to her feet.

"Thank you," she said quietly, and the group set off with one last look at Allen Walker's name. "I'm glad I came," she whispered.

"Aren't you saddened though?" Lavi asked gently, looking back over his shoulder at her. "I mean, you were the last one to..."

"Yeah," Lenalee nodded. "That's why it was hard, but now that I finally saw his grave...I think he's finally at peace, with everything."

"He died fighting," Kanda said in a thick voice, making everyone look at the back of his head in surprise. "That's enough to convince me that he'll never regret dying. At least," he glanced at Lenalee, "he died protecting you, didn't he?"

"Aww, that's sweet, Yu," Lavi teased. "Never thought you'd pay so much attention to the way Allen's mind worked."

"_What?_ No! I just guessed-!"

"No need to deny it, c'mon, you should at least smile, and Allen would know you never hated him-"

"Gerroffme, you idiot!"

"Oh my God, Yu!" Lavi gasped. "Are you _crying?"_

_"_I _yawned!"_

_"_Oi, both of you," senior Bookman sighed, his eyes narrowing as he stared off into the distance where they could see a dark cloud forming, "get back on task, you dumbbells. They're here."

"Akuma!" Lenalee exclaimed, gripping her hands tightly. "Inno-"

"Leave it to us, Lenalee," Lavi stopped her. "You're going to save your strength until we really need it, and you're still exhausted from the trip here."

"But-"

"And this mission isn't as simple as before-"

"I'd say it's a lot, lot more complicated," a voice cut in, making the Exorcists freeze in their tracks. The voice giggled at their alertness. "Hey relax, I'm not here to fight."

"Who are you?" Kanda demanded at the invisible presense.

"Or more like, _where the hell are you?"_ Lavi said, taking out his anti-Akuma weapon. "Show yourself," senior Bookman ordered. All of them former a circle around Lenalee and Toma, shielding them and maintaining a three hundred-sixty degree visibility.

"Aww, no fun, are you guys? I though we could play a bit of hide-and-go-seek," the voice pouted, and Road Kamelot appeared before them, crouched on a pink umbrella and smiling widely. "Hi Lenalee, I missed you last Christmas," she said.

"Road!" Lenalee exclaimed. At the same exact moment, Lavi's hammer elongated and froze to a half less than half an inch away from Road's forehead. The girl, however, smirked.

"Like I said, I'm not here to fight," she said, "so you can put it away now."

"What do you want?" Kanda asked her when Lavi lowered the hammer. "You're a Noah, so why are you not here to kill us?"

"I'm a messenger this time," Road said cheerfully, cocking her head in what would have been an adorable way if she wasn't emitting so much malice from her being. "I've got a message from the Earl."

"The Earl...?" senior Bookman repeated in wonder. "What would it be? Relay it."

Road Kamelot's smile widened as she hopped off the umbrella and swung it in an arch. "The first chapter's ended now," she said, her voice suddenly reflecting the evil in her. "It is the beginning of the next chapter, and we are quickly, surely nearing the death of this rotten world. Play your part, foolish Exorcists, as the fake apostles of a fake God, and you will be given a death worthy for you noble, pitiful humans at the hands of our new family. I, the Millennium Earl, will assure you a most beautiful sight as we burn this world and begin the new millennium."

"Starting a chapter without our consent, are you?" Lavi sneered at her. "Getting killed by your new family, my boot. Don't underestimate us, Noah, we don't plan on dying until _after _the Earl."

"We'll see about it, won't we, Bookman?" Road replied with a bright smile. "Let's see what you say after you see the new 'Memory' of Noah."

"If that's all you have to say," Kanda began, drawing his sword, "then I guess we have no choice but to kill you, Noah."

Without leaving a moment for the young Noah to defend herself, Kanda swiftly slashed at her with his sword, nearly cutting her body in half. Road dodged with a graceful leap into the air and landed on the umbrella again, rising into the air with a cackle, an echoing laughter.

"Don't make me say it a fourth time, Exorcist: _I'm_ not here to fight," she called as a door materialized into the air behind her. "The next time is when I come to kill you, and you're next." Pointing to Lenalee's trembling figure, Road smirked. "My dear Lenalee will be the second Exorcist whose heart I'll destroy. Till then, bye!"

Road's door opened to reveal a strange, swirling void. With one last wave, the girl disappeared inside, and the doors shut with a soft _slam._ The colorful portal faded away as well, showing no sign that the Noah had been there at all, but her voice lingered around them for a moment, laughing still.

"Have fun with the Akuma, why don't you? After all, if you don't deal with them, the city will be destroyed again, right?"

"You've _got _to be kidding me!" Lavi yelled, glaring at the incoming Akuma. There were almost three hundred of them.

"We've got to fight them!" Lenalee said determinedly. ""Inno-"

"Leave it to us, Miss Lena," senior Bookman stopped her. "You are going to save your strength until we are in true need of it, and you are still exhausted from the trip here."

"But-"

"They're only Level Ones," Lavi said a familiar glint in his eye. "Piece of cake."

"Let's go," Kanda said, and disappeared into the midst of their enemies. Lavi and Bookman followed him, leaving Lenalee with Toma, watching them helplessly.

"Why?" she whispered. "I'm always left behind...because I'm weak."

"Miss Lee," Toma said sternly. "If Sir Walker heard you saying that-"

"He'll say it's not like me to say things like this," she finished for the Finder, "but...can't help it. Allen won't stop me anymore."

_Don't let me down..._

_Will try not to..._

_"_Allen," she whispered.

There was a sudden yell of pain from above, and Lavi came crashing down to the ground, bruised and dirty. He disappeared behind a bush, and it was not long after that senior Bookman and Kanda joined him, both defeated. Lenalee screamed their names, but none of them reappeared...the Akuma closed in on them.

"**_He he he, time to kill,_**_" _one of them cackled. _"**Burn in hell, Exorcists!"**_

"Oh no, you don't!" Lenalee yelled, pulling away from Toma's grip. "I'll destroy you!" _You will never harm my family again...!_

"INNOCENCE ACTIVATE!"


	3. 3rd Night

The Apostle

3rd Night: Art

* * *

**Disclaimers**: I do not own any D. Gray-Man characters/settings. They rightfully belong to Mr. Katsura Hoshino.

* * *

_The mansion was large, collosal, even. It was also grand. _

_The tiled floor was made of marble, the walls were covered with the finest wallpaper, the rug beneath his feet were of maroon velvet. Decorating the walls, encased in golden frames, were exquisite paintings of beautiful people. People who now worked lay dead at his feet._

_Those people were most pitiful, he thought, who hadn't a strong will and had submitted. They were also truly lucky, for they were freed of a fake "God" and now served the real God. And he also knew that he was one of the most beloeved people of all, for he was that real God's apostle._

_He was a Noah._

_Smirking, he surveyed his own handiwork. The dead humans' faces gave him an immense feeling of ecstasy: the fearful expressions as they saw their death coming in closer, the bloodstained skin, empty eyes staring at the ceiling- at him- as if in silent worship, and the screaming that still rang in his ears made shivers of pleasure run down his spine. The smell of death and blood hung in the air, the red wine like liquid were splashed on the walls and made a lake on the floor. It was satisfactory work._

_The death of the Exorcists would be better, the end of the world would be a masterpiece._

"A murder?"

"Aye, yes. Nobody knows who killed the poor family, see," the old woman croaked as she pointed a wrinkled hand at the large house down the street. "Poor cousin of them was gone that day and had a big fright when she found 'em. I don't know what happened to her after, but no one's seen or heard of the girl ever since the funeral."

"She could have become an Akuma," Lavi whispered into Kanda's ear, but the samurai barely acknowledged him and continued to speak to the woman.

"How were they killed?" he asked, and the woman's eyes widened.

"Are ye seriously asking this old hag something like _that?" _she demanded, but when Kanda didn't deny or agree, she sighed. "They was left in a pool of blood in the second floor corridor. I heard rumors that the bodies were almost drained of blood, it was trickling down the stairs, even. Mangled, cut to pieces. They say there wasn't any sign of struggling, so I'd say they were all caught unawares and killed quickly. Poor souls."

"May they find peace with the Lord," Lenalee prayed, and the group set off down the street, Lenalee stumbling occasionally.

"Why did you activate your Innocence?" Lavi demanded, catching her when she almost fell. He put a hand on her shoulder to helped her stable herself, but he didn't let go when they resumed walking. "We _told _you to-"

"I can't just watch my comrades fight while I know that my Innocence will still fight for me," she said firmly, although she winced slightly with every step. "Especially when all of you were hurt back there...I couldn't stop myself."

"But still-"

"I was strong, wasn't I?" she asked, looking up at him with a sheepish, apologetic smile.

"Well, yeah, but-"

"I'm still a part of this world," Lenalee said. "I'm an Exorcist until these boots break or my legs are chopped off. So Lavi, don't stop me, please?"

"Lenalee, Komui will flip if he found out that you were fighting," Lavi argued. "He told us to make sure you didn't strain yourself."

"He can yell at me all he wants when we get home," she said, "but if he thinks that I will let the town that Allen...if he thinks I'll let this town be destroyed again, he thought wrong. Come on, Lavi, we're getting left behind!"

_Allen's death must have affected you a lot, Lenalee,_ Lavi thought as the girl hurried her steps, pulling him along with her. _You're no longer just fighting for your comrades, are you? To me, it seems..._

_"_Lavi?" Lenalee said, peering at him in curiosity. "Is there something on my face?"

"What? Oh...no, it's nothing, just thinking-"

"Hmmm.."

"Hurry up, both of you!" senior Bookman called back irritably.

"Coming!" both of the younger Exorcists said. Lenalee promptly broke into a trot, but Lavi lingered back for a moment, watching her.

_Allen, until now, I never realized how much of an impact you had in our lives,_ he thought. _Lenalee's changed so much, you know..._

_"_Hurry up, idiot," Kanda snapped back at him this time, glaring at the Bookman from where he and the others were waiting. "We're going, we've got an Innocence to find. Now that a Noah's appeared, we've got no time to waste."

"Oh, hey! Wait up! Noooo, don't leave me behind!"

"Lavi, you seem a lot cheerful today," Lenalee commented when said boy caught up to them.

"Eh?"

"I don't know...it seems like you're back to the way you were before...before, yeah..." Lavi rasied an eyebrow at Lenalee, who flushed and turned away.

"Heh," he huffed, and folded his hands behind his head.

_Keep walking forward, _Allen's voice said in his mind. _Keep moving forward until the day you die._

"Yeah, I'm moving, I'm moving," Lavi muttered to the voice. "I won't linger anymore."

"Did you say something?" Kanda asked gruffly, but Lavi saw that his eyes were a lot softer than they usually were. Perhaps the samurai knew what was going through Lavi's mind right now...

"I'm just talking to myself," Lavi said with a smirk. "So, Captain, any leads as to where the Innocence may be?"

Without a word, Kanda pointed to a large house to their right- the house where the bloody murder had taken place. "Here," he finally said.

"Hmm," senior Bookman nodded his agreement. "Reasonable. The killing is likely to have been done by one of the Noah. If it were an Akuma, there would be no bodies left, and if it were a human, there would most likely to be some clues that would lead the police to the culprit."

"But if it was a Noah, the Innocence will be gone now..." Lenalee said disappointedly.

"We might gets leads as to who the new Noah is," Lavi said encouragingly. "It's worth a try, no?"

"I guess..."

"Let's go," Kanda said and creaked open the mansion's iron gates, his fingers wrapped tightly around the hilt of his sword.

They paid no heed to the flower garden that surrounded the house. It was beautiful, but insignificant; the house, however, was as beautiful as the garden and much, much more significant the the Exorcists. Gulping down the last of their anxieties, they pushed on the oak front doors, which to their surprise, opened quite easily, and stepped inside.

They smelled blood the moment they stepped on the entrance hall's cherrywook flooring. It was intense, and the sickening stench of death made their eyes water. It was clear that the old woman's story was true. Clamping their hands over their mouth and nose, the Exorcists gingerly proceeded into the entrance hall where a magnificent chandelier hung overhead. A long corridor stretched before them, ending in a wide staircase. On either side of them were a set of oak doors with elegant designs carved into the surface.

"Which way?" Lenalee whispered.

"The bodies were found in the second floor corridor," Lavi said, pointing at the stairs in front of them. "Up there."

"What do you reckon we'll find?" senior Bookman asked.

"If we're dead lucky, we'll find a Noah," Lavi joked as the group made their way towards the stairs, eyes and ears peeled for any sign of life in the eerily silent house. "If we're not lucky, we'll find nothing. If we are the most unluckiest people here, we'll be found by a Noah and get attacked.

"I'd say we go for not lucky," Lenalee muttered.

"Sh!" Kanda suddenly hissed.

"Huh?"

"Don't you hear that?" senior Bookman asked. At those words, Lenalee and Lavi closed their eyes and listened:

A rustle. A creak. Footsteps.

Something was moving above them.

"Who's there?" Lavi yelled, and the noise stopped immediately.

"You idiot," Kanda said.

"Huh?"

"You should've snuck up on him," senior Bookman added.

"Hey, don't blame me! Lenalee, help!"

"I think they have a point," Lenalee said coolly.

"What? Oh, come on, you're all so cruel!"

"Just shut up," Kanda snapped, turned on his heels, and marched up the stairs.

"Ah! Wati up!" Lavi whined and scrambled after the samurai, followed by the others. Nobody noticed, however, a pair of gray eyes watching them from around a far corner. The hooded shadow lingered for a moment, gazing at them with his chilling eyes, and disappeared into the dark hallway without a sound.

"So they're the Exorcists," he said to himself, a smirk playing on his lips. "It will most certainly be fun making art out of them."

He stopped before an open window and stepped out of it, allowing gravity to take its hold over his body and drop him to the ground. He landed lightly, with faltering, and walked gracefully across the flower garden, out of the iron gates, and down the cobblestone street towards town. He passed store after store and stopped upon reaching a sweets store where a young girl stood against the window, sucking on a bright red candy, a smile playing on her face.

"Hi," Road Kamelot said, waving her hand.

"Hi Road," he replied, approaching her. He held out a hand, which she took in hers, and the two of them crossed the street together.

An old man watching the well-dressed youth saw the man take the little girl's hand. Wondering if it would lead to anything good, the old man made to call out to them. But it was at that precise moment that a young married couple obscured them from his view. By the time the couple had moved out of the way, the hooded youth and the girl had disappeared.

* * *

Hey-lo readers, 

This chapter was a bit short, I guess, but I sort of fell into a slump (my apologies.) I'm seriously hoping that the next one would be longer. Well, there was a question among the reviews for this story, and I thought I'd have some of our beloved D. Gray-Man characters answer it for us today.

Allen: This question was for chapter two from zenbon sakura-san. Let's see...

**Q: **is Allen going to appear or is it just linalee trapped in rhoads illusions?

Lavi: So? Well what's the truth- you know, don't you?

Allen: Yes, but I'm not allowed to tell anyone, am I? I mean, if I tell the truth it will be a complete-what do you call it?-oh, yes, it would be a complete spoiler. Besides, the author here forbid me to tell anyone.

Lavi: Aw, c'mon, can't you tell me, please? I'll give you food.. (holds up a bag of mitarashi-dangos)

Allen: Urk-! Um...yea-no. Let's...uhm...go on and get ready for the next chapter...um...

Lavi: (sigh) Okies, Moyashi. Ehm, sorry zenbon sakura, but I'm sure you'll find out soon enough.

Allen: Please _don't_ call me Moyashi, Lavi, honestly. Well, that's it so far for questions regarding this story, but if any readers have questions, Lavi and I will be willing to answer them.

Lavi: (yawns) It's late, I'm out. G'night, guys...

Allen: Thank you for reading- Hey! Lavi, wait! Ahh...ehm..Good night!

Allen/Lavi: See you next time!


	4. 4th Night

The Apostle

4th Night: Child of Noah

* * *

**Disclaimers**: I do not own any D. Gray-Man characters/settings. They rightfully belong to Mr. Katsura Hoshino.

* * *

Tyki Mikk looked up from his book just in time to see Road skip into the room, a red lollipop in her hand. She waved at him cheerfully, and following her was a hooded figure he still had yet to get used to. It would be easier if the boy took of his hood,; of course. 

"Honestly, boy, it's indoors," Tyki said. "Show your face for once."

"It's to hide the hair, see," the boy replied pleasantly, but pulled down the hood anyway. The face of Noah's 'Desire' showed itself, and the smiling face was as young and innocent as Tyki had always remembered. It was hard to believe that this boy, despite his cheating ways, was the most gifted of all Noahs.

"The Duke will be here in a few minutes," Road announced, clinging to her sibling's arm. "Let's play a game- how about chess?"

"OK," Allen Walker agreed, allowing Road to steer him over to the table across Tyki where a chessboard had been set up.

"You're white," Road said, plopping down into a chair. Allen smiled at her and moved his piece, beginning the game.

"You're dead serious, playing a game against Road, aren't you?" Tyki asked boredly after a few minutes. Allen looked up after placing his knight down and raised an eyebrow.

"Think of it like this, Tyki: wouldn't you be serious as well if this chess game was for real?" he asked. "A fight for the Heart Innocence, the first one to get it wins this war. The pawns on our side are the Akuma, theirs is the Exorcists. Knights, rooks, bishops, and the queen- us, the Noah, and their generals. The king is the Heart."

"That's a nice way to think of it," Road mused, nudging her pawn forward. "I won't lose to you, Allen."

"Try me," the boy smirked, but just as he about to pick up a bishop, a door opened, and the Millennium Earl stepped into the room, his trademark grin on his face.

"Earl!" Road cried happily. "You're here!"

"Hello Road," the Millennium Earl said, approaching the three Noahs. He turned to Allen and asked, "How did the mission go?"

"All right," Allen answered. "Just as you'd planned, the Akuma woman told the Exorcists about the family, and they're in the house now."

"And Road? How did you do?"

"I delivered your message, Earl," Road answered cheerfully, jumping onto her sibling's top hat and laughing. "The Exorcists looked excited."

"Good, good," the Millennium Earl said, sounding pleased.

"Where are the others?" Road questioned, looking around the room, noticing for the first time that it was empty except for the Earl, Allen, Tyki, herself, and several Akuma servants.

"Skin will be here after he finished his cake."

"Jasdebi?"

"They are-"

"RIGHT HERE!" two voices yelled just as a couple of teenage Noah came crashing through a far door, effectively sandwiching an Akuma behind it. "Is it true, Earl, that we have one of _them _on our side?" they asked eagerly.

"Yes, yes, that is what we are gathered today for," the Earl answered pleasantly, gesturing towards two empty chairs. "Take a seat, now."

David and Jasdero, otherwise known as Jasdebi, hopped down into the chairs, goggling Allen, who looked back with his large gray eyes. The boy and Road had abandoned their chess game by now, and an Akuma servant was now clearing away the pieces. It didn't escape anyone's notice that Allen's left arm twitched violently when the Akuma brushed past him.

"Isn't that in the way" David demanded, pointing at the arm as if it was offensive.

"No," Allen answered, "it usually just hangs limp at my side, but it sometimes does that...the twitching."

"Useless arm!" Jasdero shrieked.

"It's probably just as useless as Skin," David sniggered. "We said that to him once, and he told us to shut up. He's got temper problems, I swear."

"I'd tell you to shut up too," Tyki muttered. "You're annoying."

"_Shut up, _stupid Tyki!"

"We'll shoot you!"

"Try, it'll just all go through me."

"God, next time we see an Exorcist we're using you as a shield, you piece of sh-"

"Quiet down, all of you," Allen sighed, leaning back in his chair and sending his siblings a chilling glare, "or I might start to want to stich your mouths shut."

Tyki and Jasdebi gulped, their eyes glued on Allen and his rather evil smirk. "Fine," Tyki grumbled, looking away. "J-just as expected from Noah's 'Desire'," Jasdebi said, looking shaken.

"Yo, Sweet Tooth," Tyki said as a bulky man's large shadow walked into the room and sat down heavily beside Road.

"It's not Sweet Tooth, it's Skin Bolic!" the man snapped. His eyes landed on Allen and narrowed. "So this is 'Desire'?" he asked.

"Good day," Allen greeted. "But I would appreciate if you all did not call me by that. It's Allen Walker, Mr. Bolic."

"Allen here is our new family," the Millennium Earl said, smiling at them all, although all of the Noah knew that he always smiled no matter what he was feeling. "He will be fighting with us for the Innocence Heart, and he will be bringing death to the world with us. Everyone, be nice to him, please."

"Heh, fine with me," David sneered, "but any signs of him turning against us and he's _dead meat. _Got it, Allen Walker?"

"I understand," Allen nodded. "Not to worry though, I have no intention of going along the path that this arm has carved ahead of me. The path I'll walk is the one the crosses on my head will lead me down."

"Prove it, Allen Walker!" Jasdero cackled. "Hee hee!"

"Tyki-pon-"

"Don't use that name, Earl, please..."

"You, Road, and Allen are the first in line for the cast in our next chapter. You may take as many Akuma as you want, but you must let the Exorcists feel it deeply that this time, we will most certainly bring an end to the world," the Thousand-Year Duke said. "You are all dismissed."

"It's your first mission, Allen, aren't you excited?" squealed as the three of them stepped out into the sun.

"Huh?" Allen said lamely, pulling the hood back over his head. "Oh, yeah."

"For you, they'll be really fun to mess around with," Road said slyly, a knowing glint in her eyes.

"Oh? Why would that be?"

"I'm not telling, it'll spoil the fun, won't it?" Road giggled. "Oooh look! A photographer! Let's ask him to take a picture of the three of us!"

"Why?" Tyki whined.

"To give to the Exorcists, they'll be so shocked!"

"Ehm, fine, all right. Allen?"

Smiling, the boy walked up to the gray haired photographer, who raised his eyebrows in question at the boy's strange appearance. "Sir would you care enough to take a photograph of my siblings and I?" Allen asked politely.

"If you would pay for it," the man grunted.

"We've got no money on us, unfortunately."

"Then no picture. Damn poor brats. Get lost."

"But-"

"Go away!"

"Please?" Allen pleaded, staring the man straight in the eye.

It wasn't even a moment after. Something behind the man's eyes crashed, and as if he had been planning to from the beginning, the photographer said, "Yes. I shall take a picture of you, in fact, I'd love to have the honor of doing so."

"Thank you," Allen smiled again.

Watching him, Tyki felt a shiver go down his spine. "Creepy," he said under his breath as Road hugged Allen happily and the photographer began to prepae his camera. "The boy can control the will of anything and anyone. Just as the Duke had expected, eh? The one with the memory of 'Desire' is the one who inherited Noah's will stronger than anyone, and is also the one who can control it more than any of us. If he gets stronger...he might even be able to decide who lives and who dies...what is he?"

"Tyki!" Road called. "Come over here! We're taking a picture!"

Shaking his head to clear the chilling thoughts, Tyki joined Allen and Road on the street, allowing Road to wrap her arms around him. Allen stood beside him, watching the camera, and, sighing slightly, Tyki put a hand on the boy's shoulder, which was surprisingly small. Allen glanced at him for a second, turned away again, but he leaned against Tyki slightly.

Looking down at the top of Allen Walker's hooded head, Tyki decided that his thoughts were just his rambling. This boy was an Apostle, just like them. He might be the Apostle of _two_ Gods, sure, but he wasn't-

_He can't be a God, _Tyki thought.

"Say cheese, my darlings," the photographer said, but Tyki ignored him. It was at the exact moment that he felt a presense of something dangerous.

"Innocence," Road said, and her face split into a wide grin. "The Exorcists are nearby."

"Cheese," Allen said, but Tyki felt his shoulder tense under his hand.

* * *

Komui: Hiya, everyone! 

Lavi: Unlike in the manga, Komui has finally decided to show his face in the questions room, haha. Hmmmmmmmmm...the chapter this time was a bit short, ne? I wonder if I'll be back again in the next one.

Kanda: You've been in two already...(grumble)

Lavi: Jealous much?

Kanda: No! (stomps off)

Lavi: Well, today, Komui, me, and...Hey, Yu! Come back here!

Kanda: This is troublesome, if Komui's here, then why can't he just deal with all this? (irritated)

Lavi: Ah, chill, c'mon. It's really fun. Anyway, Komui, Yu, and I will be answering the questions for today. First one is from...flower miko. Here we go:

**Q: **will the exorcists face the new Noah anytime soon?

Kanda: If we do I'm sure as _hell _going to slice his stupid head off!

Lavi: Yu, it's no time to be violent. Well, I'm not sure about when, but Komui, aren't you worried about howLenalee would feel?

Komui: (wails) Leeeeee-naaaaa-leeeeee...

Lavi: Ehm...right, going on to the next question. This one is from mangafreak7793.

**Q: i**s Allen the new noah??

Kanda: He was supposed to be dead.

Komui: I honestly can't imagine Allen siding with the Millennium Earl...he's one of the most determined Exorcists we ever had, but I guess it's true. (sad sigh)

Lavi: I don't wanna think about it...(gloom) There's two more questions from our dear zenbon sakura! 

**Q: **isn't allens eyes deep sky blueish? was allen traped in a illusional world that rhoad created so his reality is disorted?

Komui: Allen himself answered the first question in volume four of the manga, didn't he? He said it was silver gray.

Lavi: That he did.

Kanda: Don't ask me about Moyashi. (vein pops)

Lavi: (sweatdrops and backs away from Kanda) Here's one from Aleks.

**Q: ** Did he lose his memory?

Komui: If you're taking about Allen, I have no clue. We might find out if we somehow speak to him...

Lavi: Why would he side with the Earl even if he did lose his memory? I'll bet his possessed..

Kanda: Doesn't seem to me that he was _acting _possessed. The last question was submitted from tenkage onna:

**Q: **allens evil, isnt he...?

Kanda: (explodes) **_DON'T _ASK ABOUT MOYASHI! (**draws Mugen)

Komui/Lavi: Ack! No, don't break anything!

Lavi: Yu, just because you're jealous _you _don't get any questions, you can't blame it on the questions corner!

Komui: (hides from Kanda and whispers) Due to Yu Kanda losing his temper, we are forced to end the questions corner for today. See you next time, everyone, and thanks for the questions!


	5. 5th Night

The Apostle

5th Night: The Black Order

* * *

**Disclaimers**: I do not own any D. Gray-Man characters/settings. They rightfully belong to Mr. Katsura Hoshino.

* * *

"Supervisor, was it safe to send Lenalee on this mission?" Reever Wenhamm asked worriedly. "I mean, she still hasn't recovered completely." 

Komui Lee sent him a dark look. "I was never in agreement with the Grand Generals about sending her," he sighed, "but I couldn't refuse. Hevlaska sensed a change in the Innocence. Something happened to one of them, somewhere out there."

"Other than Lenalee's Innocence?" Reever asked.

"Hevlaska suspects that one of the Exorcists have moved to the other side," Komui said bluntly.

"What?" Reever nearly exclaimed, slamming his hands on Komui's cluttered desk. "How could that happen? If an Exorcist got anywhere near the Noah or the Earl, they would be killed immediately! The only reason Lenalee survived last Christmas was because...because...because Allen-!"

"This is something not even Lenalee remembers," Komui cut in, "but there is a possibility that Allen Walker may be alive."

"What do you mean?"

"I was talking to the Finder who stayed behind with him right up to the moment when the communication was cut off," Komui said, leaning back in his chair and pushing his glasses father up his nose, the Finder's voice still ringing loud and clear in his ears.

"_Why, Walker. Why are you going with them? Aren't you- aren't you an Exorcist? Are you betraying us?"_

_"_Supervidor?" Reever said in puzzlement. "If Allen is alive, will he be coming back to us?"

Komui looked at Reever's face: it was gaunt and pale and hadn't seen sunlight in a long time, for the scientist had overloaded himself with work, but right now there was a faint glow of hope in it. There was no point in letting it grow, just to be crushed...

"Reever," he said seriously, standing up and putting a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Even if Allen is alive, it is best to think that he will never be rejoining us again." _Because he might have moved on to the Earl's side..._

"Yes, Supervisor," Reever said, the glow extinguishing itself just as quickly as it had lit up. "Is that...is that why they asked to send Lenalee? Do they think...do they think it's Allen?"

"He was the last Exorcist to come in contact with the Noah," Komui said. "It is the most reasonable theory."

"But Allen was one of our most devoted Exorcists!" Reever argued, sounding desperate. "How could he have-?"

"I don't want to believe it either, Reever. After all, it is only a theory," Komui said quietly. "I'd like to believe that Allen is at peace instead."

The two of them stood in silence for a few minutes until the phone on Komui's desk rang, shrilly, echoing...The supervisor picked it up. "Hello?"

"Supervisor- it is I, Toma," the voice on the other end said.

The Finder who was with Lenalee.

"Did something happen?" Komui asked, feeling something cold grip his heart and squeeze.

"We've encountered the Noah, sir," Toma informed.

"What?" Komui exclaimed, clutching the receiver tightly in his hand as his heart began to beat madly. "And? Is everyone-?"

"There are no serious injuries, they are all resting now. The Noah...they retreated."

"Retreated?" Komui repeated in wonder. "Why would they retreat?"

"I do not know, sir, but one of them stopped the others and they disappeared. They left behind an army of Akuma, but they've been taken care of ."

"How many Noahs were there?" Komui asked.

"Two. Maybe three, if the third was a Noah as well. We couldn't see his face," Toma answered, and there was a sudden noise behind him. "Oh, yes, all right...Supervisor, Miss Lee would like to speak to you."

"Put her on, please."

"Here you go, Miss..."

"Brother?" Lenalee's voice said, sounding weak and scared.

"Lenalee!" Komui sighed in relief, then regained his composure. "Are you alright?" he asked.

"Brother...it was Road," Lenalee said softly. "She was there that day, in this town. Her and the other Noah. They're the ones...they...Allen..." A sob.

_She can't take this anymore.._

_"_Do you have any clue who the other one might be?"

"No, but...I saw his hand. His left hand," Lenalee whispered. "I haven't told anybody yet, I was the only one who saw it. Brother...it was red."

"Red?"

"Yes, it was the same hand- no, it was Allen's hand," Lenalee said. "I only glimpsed it, but I'd recognize it anywhere. I'm sure it was Allen's hand."

_Allen might have moved on to their side, _his own words screamed at him.

"That's not possible," Komui told his sister.

"I don't know what's going on anymore," Lenalee said, sounding close to tears. "Allen's gone, isn't he? Isn't he...isn't he with his father now?"

"He's watching over us, Lenalee, he's watching over us with God."

"Brother?"

"Yes?"

"I'm not sure if I'll get back from this mission alive," Lenalee said. "I barely survived earlier. I'd have died if Lavi and the others hadn't protected me."

"Don't lose your heart to the darkness," Komui said sternly and firmly. "Never give up, Lenalee."

"I want to hear his voice."

"Huh?"

"I want to hear Allen's voice again," Lenalee said. "He'll tell me the same thing. Believe, don't lose, never give up, keep moving forward. If he told me those words, I would never doubt myself."

"He always had a way of making people believe in him, didn't he?" Komui said, a small smile playing on his lips. "But Lenalee, don't go wishing for Allen anymore. You cannot long to see or hear from Allen Walker. Do you understand?"

"What...?"

"You don't want him to become an Akuma, do you?" Komui asked, trying to control his voice. He didn't want it to tremble-why? He wasn't angry, or sad, was he?

"You have to let Allen disappear, Lenalee," he said, and he heard a strangled sob on the other end. "For the sake of the world and for him."

"All right," Lenalee sniffed.

"Good. Could you-"

"Brother?"

"Yes, Lenalee?"

"Just because I'm weak, doesn't mean I'm not an Exorcist, right?" Lenalee asked.

"As long as you are on God's side, you are an Exorcist. As long as you have your boots," Komui said, "you will fight as an Exorcist."

"...Thanks. Good night, Brother."

"Good night."

The line went dead, and Komui was left to listen to the beeping that replaced his beloved sister's voice. She'd sounded so weak, so unsure, not like the Lenalee Lee she was before.

"How much of an impact do you have on this world, Allen?" Komui asked the empty room, putting down the receiver. "You've changed Lavi. You've changed Kanda. You've changed Lenalee. What else- would you change the world too?"

"Komui?"

"Huh?" the man blinked, looking up from his thoughts. In the doorway stood Arystar Krory. Oh yes, he remembered this man's story. Allen had changed this man's life as well... "Good evening Krory. Can I help you?"

"Are Lavi and Lenalee all right?" Krory asked, walking into the office. "Should I go aid them?"

"It's fine, Krory, don't worry," Komui replied, smiling reassuringly. "They're together, and Kanda is with them. Kanda is very trustworthy and strong willed."

"But-"

"Krory, I will put you on the waitlist," Komui interrupted. "In the event that anything happens, I will ask you to go to their aid. Right now it seems that the Noah and the Millennium Earl are merely warning them. If the storm gets closer, I will ask you to leave immediately."

Krory peered at him with his innocent, unknowing gaze. After a moment of silence, he nodded and left the room. "I faresay you deserve some rest, Supervisor," he called over his shoulder. "You look very tired."

"Thanks, but it comes with the job, see. We'll all sleep once this is all over."

The war will have to end soon, he thought grimly, or else the Exorcists wouldn't make it. _Not physically nor emotionally, even if they are apostles of God, they are all humans..._

_Lenalee..._

As chief supervisor of the Black Order headquarters, thinking of an indivisual comrade like this shouldn't be allowed. He shouldn't be sentimental. Focus on winning, that was the only importance. But to him, wasn't the Order his home? His world.

Even if the real world, as it was always shown on maps, was saved, what would happen to him if everyone here died in the end?

He would break.

_Even if the real world was to be saved, if everyone died, I would be destroyed._

----------------

"A piece of my world disappeared that night," Lenalee whispered, hanging up the phone, "and it disappeared again tonight."

"Miss Lena, are you all right?" senior Bookman asked gently, putting a hand on her shoulder. A wisened hand, wrinkled and knotted with age. He eyes were all-knowing, and pierced her, saw through her every thoughts. Did he know?

"I can make it," Lenalee said, walking back to where Lavi was half asleep on a chair. They were allowed hospitality in a generous old couple's home, but it being so small, they had been given the living room, which had only one couch and two armchairs. They didn't mind. After the fight earlier that day, anywhere was fine.

"What did Komui say?" Lavi asked Toma.

"He seemed surprised and tired and didn't say much," the Finder answered.

"What were you talking to him about, Lenalee?"

Lenalee thought quickly. "I just wanted to hear his voice. He is my brother, after all."

From his corner of the room, Kanda's gaze burned into the side of her head. Glancing in his direction, she saw that he was giving her his usual stone-hard gaze, but it was mixed with a bit of questioning and wonder. He mouthed something, and with a jolt, she realized he'd heard her conversation with Komui. She wondered if he would tell the others, but Kanda merely shrugged and closed his eyes.

"Lavi, Miss Lena, you should follow Kanda's example and get some sleep as well," senior Bookman said, hopping onto an empty chair. "Toma and I will keep watch tonight."

"Geez, panda, thanks," Lavi grinned, leaning back against his chair. "'Night, guys."

"Good night, Bookman, Toma," Lenalee said, lying down on the couch. Despite her arguing, the boys had insisted she take the couch and stretch her legs.

_God night, and good-bye, Allen, _she thought as she closed her eyes. _Tomorrow, whether that Noah was you or not, I won't long for your presense no longer, please rest in peace._

* * *

Lavi: Hi hi! The questions corner for D. Gray-Man fanfiction,_ The Apostle, _is back again! Today, it's me and Yu again, and Allen is back from chapter three! 

Allen: Um...hello.

Kanda: Why are _you _here, traitor?

Allen: _**WhAt!?!!??!!!? **_Don't blame _me!_ Making me a Noah was all the author's idea, you straight-cut fringe!

Kanda: _What _did you just call me???

Lavi: Hey, hey, calm down guys...(sweatdrops) Well, I'd like to start with complaining about how weird and random the chapter title is, but since we've got a ton of questions to answer, let's get started now and ignore my dissatisfactories. (big smile) Allen, read the first one.

Allen: Ummmm...(looks through papers) The first one is from Aleks.

**Q: **What is it to be the Noah of "Desire"?(powers/how important to Earls cause) also another question! Does this take place AFTER or BEFORE the Ark arc?

Allen: I'm...uh...actually forbidden to tell you the secret behind the Noah's 'Desire'. You'll be finding out sooner or later though because it's supposed to be a big part about it sometime along the storyline...and...

Lavi: This story is before Noah's Ark. The author had a big argument with herself about whether to keep Lenalee's long hair or not, and in the end decided it would easier to keep it with long hair, so sadly, we won't be seeing Miranda as an Exorcist in this story. Moving on now. This one's from BlueFox of the Moon.

**Q: **just a thought...are there going to be any pairings?

Allen: (flushes)

Lavi: ...Brat.

Kanda: Exorcists don't need someting stupid like 'pairings'.

Lavi: Aww don't say that. Love's a good thing. Well, it's too bad but the author doesn't have anything like that planned for this one. I hear she just plans this to be more like a thing about everyone's inner feelings (quotes with fingers) and stuff, so she doesn't have anything about relationships in here.

Allen: Besides, I'm busy trying to kill you guys, and Lavi's just a player, honestly. Kanda won't even care about ladies, and the only person who would even have the time to think about love is Lenalee...but anyone who gets near her will die an instant death. Maybe squished by another Komurin.

Kanda: Let it be you, Moyashi.

Allen: Hey! I heard that! Innocence-

Kanda: I'll slice you to bits-!

Lavi: (pushes them apart) THE NEXT QUESTION IS FROM mOOnCanDY.

**Q: **Is Allen just playing with a poker face with the Noahs??

Lavi: Are you?

Allen: ...

Kanda: Well???

Allen: That's a forbidden topic as well. (deep sigh)

Kanda: What's next? (grumble) It's from Aurora...

**Q: **Er, are you up to date with the manga? Skin is dead, Tiki went crazy, and Jasdebi were poisoned by Innocece. If it's an AU, then you should say so from the start.

Lavi: If that's true then I'm really looking forward to the rest of the manga. Thanks for the advice Aurora, but the author here already has read the manga to that point, and just as we said in the other question, she's just straying off course for now.

Kanda: She didn't see the point in doing something like announcing it's an AU.

Allen: ...What is that, anyway? Going on...from mangafreak7793..

**Q: **the noah of desire has the ablity to control can that affect exorcists

Lavi: (gulp)

Kanda: (glares at Allen)

Allen: The thing about Noah is that they can affect almost anything of this world. Like Tyki Mikk, I guess, but even Tyki's ability to 'choose' anything of this world cannot affect the Innocence. I haven't tried, but I think I can control the Exorcists themselves, even if I can't do the same to Innocence. 

Lavi: Ah...well...that's it for the questions for this chapter, guys. Hopefull all of Allen's forbidden answers will come up someday. Ta ta.


	6. 6th Night

The Apostle

6th Night: The Noah In the Hood

* * *

**Disclaimers**: I do not own any D. Gray-Man characters/settings. They rightfully belong to Mr. Katsura Hoshino.

* * *

"We didn't find anything significant, did we?" Lavi asked dully as the group walked down the cobblestone street. Beside him, Kanda clicked in tongue in annoyance, and senior Bookman shook his head silently. Trailing after them was Lenalee and Toma, both of them not speaking aloud, but the disappointed look on Lenalee's face told a message so loud and clear that she might as well have been yelling in his ear. 

"I guess it shouldn't have been so easy," Lavi continued, trying to break the frustrated silence. "Yu, let's go invenstigate some more..."

"Where-?" Kanda began, but he froze and sent the Bookman a chilling glare. "_Don't _call me by my first name!"

"Huh? But I always do that-"

"Then stop!"

"Guys, please, just stop arguing," Lenalee sighed in exasperation, pushing the boys away from each other and walking between them. Lavi glanced at her, seeing that she was walking a lot more smootly now compared to when they'd left headquarters. He guessed her ineptness was due to lack of use, because she was the picture of health if they ignored how she couldn't activate Dark Boots as well as before. Ever since Christmas, she couldn't get past her Innocence's second innovation.

_But there's something definetly different- stronger- about her, _Lavi thought, pushing back his worry for the girl.

Things have changed a lot over the months.

Oblivious to these thoughts of her comrade, Lenalee placed one foot in front of another on the cobblestone ground, her eyes darting back and forth, left and right, up and down. No sign of enemies. That was a good thing, for she didn't know how much she could protect the others...

_Protect? _she thought in question. _Why would they...need protection?_

She'd decided years ago that she would fight for her brother. Ever since the day he arrived at the Black Order for her, she had devoted herself to the Black Order- to her brother. Eventually, the people of the Order became her friends, her family, her world. It was since then that she'd decided to fight for them, her world.

Several years passed since she made that decision. Four months after Allen Walker's death.

_What am I fighting for now? _Lenalee wondered. So many people had been killed in the war, so many pieces of her world had been lost. Allen was their light and hope, and he had died too. Surely everyone wondered sometimes: what was the point?

What was the purpose for which they all fought so desperately?

_I made a vow, _Allen had told her once, _to myself, to my comrades, to the world, and to Mana. To destroy Akuma, to fight beside my comrades, to save this world, and to keep moving forward, never giving up. This arm of mine is what leads me through te darkness, it's what lights up the path I'm supposed to take. It's my guiding light, so I will fight with this arm and won't stop until my life ends. _

_"_Keep moving forward, never giving up," Lenalee whispered into the cloudy white sky, "until my life ends."

"Huh? Lenalee, did you say something?" Lavi asked her, glancing back over his shoulder at her.

"Oh, it's nothing," she said quickly, looking back down from the sky. "Nothing."

It wasn't time to be lost in the past, it was time to move on. As she and her comrades made their way through the crowded street, she was supposed to be moving farther and farther away from the regrets of her past days. But the moments of darkness stretched their arms and grabbed her with every step, and she felt herself being dragged back again, painfully noticing the empty space between her and Lavi that would have been occupied by their smiling, gray eyed friend, missing the ring of his comforting voice.

_Why can't I move on?_

"Heads up, Lenalee," Lavi suddenly said, and she heard the click of Kanda unsheathing his sword. "There's more of them. I swear, this whole city might be a next of Akuma."

"_**Exorcists...Exorcist..." **_the Akuma repeated the word over and over like a broken record, and Lenalee stared in both horror and awe as the crowd around them began to transform. What used to be a busy street filled with smiling citizens became a sea of metal as almost a hundred Akuma bodies surrounded them. Several Level Twos cackled manically, most likely at the thought of killing, and without warning, the Exorcists found themselves under attack.

Lavi, Kanda, and senior Bookman disappeared into the battle, and Lenalee no longer felt Toma's presense as she was torn away from him by a Level Two gripping her arm tightly. It glared at her through bloodshot, ravenous eyes and said with a cackle,

_**"Mistress Road wouldn't mind if I kill just one Exorcist, would she? Heh...time to die, girl."**_

_"**Hey! No cheating!"**_ another Akuma yelled, and soon the two of them began to argue.** _"That's _my _prey, you idiot!"_ **one growled.

"Yours?" Lenalee repeated, irritation rising. "I don't belong to anyone! Innocene activate!"

_**"Ahhhh...shit!" **_the Akuma roared, letting go of Lenalee. _"**That's why I wanted to kill her as soon as possible!"**_

"**_You fault, you clumsy!"_** the other yelled. **_"We'll just have to kill her now- DIE."_**

"_Enbu: Kirikaze," _Lenalee muttered, and with a swift kick of her legs, a swirl of wind surrounded the two Akuma before her and the others as well, swallowing them whole and leaving only bits of Dark Matter behind. Lavi and Kanda had destroyed the other Akuma already, and senior Bookman was tending to a scratch on Toma's head. It was...too easy.

"They're just playing with us," Kanda stated, flicking blood off the blade of Mugen. "They're not trying to kill us at all."

"Why would they do _that?" _Lavi asked. "We're just obstacles to them, aren't we?"

"That's why it's strange, you idiot," Kanda snapped. "Well, knowing the personality of some Noahs they're probably just trying to drive us all insane."

"That's troublesome."

"Keh."

"Are you all right, Miss Lena?" senior Bookman asked her.

"Yes," Lenalee whispered, "I'm fine." She looked down the street and saw someone standing among the rubble.

A tall man, a little girl, a hooded figure.

Lenalee gasped.

_Noah._

"They're over there!" she told the others, pointing at the shadows. "They- the Noah- they're back!"

"We're seeing a lot of them, aren't we?" Lavi grumbled, adjusting his lopsided bandanna and sighing. "What do they want _now?"_

"I don't care," Kanda said, gripping Mugen's hilt tightly. "When they come, we kill them."

"My my, violent, aren't we?" the tall Noah asked as the three of them walked up to them. "I'm sorry about the other day, my dear Exorcists, we were interrupted by our brother, you see?"

"You should finish a business with someone in one meeting, Noah," Lavi adviced. "It's etiquette, you see."

"I'm very aware of it," the man replied and took of his hat. "Pleased to meet you, Exorcists. Tyki Mikk at your acquaintance."

"Hi Lenalee," the girl, Road Kamelot, greeted with her trademark smile, a lollipop in her hand, her other hand holding the hooded figure's gloved one. "He finally decided to start playing the music."

"Music?" Kanda repeated.

"We're in charge of starting the next chapter," the hooded Noah answered, and his voice was another knife through the Exrocists' wounded hearts. It was familiar- _too _familiar. Lenalee's worries from the night before came back to her in a rush...the red hand.

"I forgot to introduce myself," the Noan continued. "My apologies."

"Show yourself," senior Bookman said.

The Noah raised his hand and slowly pulled down his hood, and Lenalee found herself staring into the eyes of a ghost.

She heard someone screaming, and it was only when she felt Lavi's arms around her that she realized it was her.

_He was alive..._

"What the hell is this about?" she heard Kanda yell angrily, and Lavi's hands were shaking even as they held her tightly. Fearing that what she saw wasn't herr imagination, she slowly looked up.

"Are you alright, miss?" the white haired and scarred face- the unmistakable face of Allen Walker asked her, showing concern that hid the mocking behind his voice. His left hand was gloved, but she could imagine the red skin under the silk fabric. It was wrapped around Road's. He was holding hands with her, like an older brother to a younger sister. Siblings.

Allen was with the Noah now.

"But...why...?" Lenalee said, her voice weaker than it had ever been.

"What kind of sick joke is this?" Kanda demanded, brandishing his sword at the Noah. "The damn kid is dead. No one's going to fall for a stupid trick like this, Noah."

"Joke?" Road laughed, licking her candy cheerfully. "Nobody's playing a joke on anyone, Exorcist. This is Allen, the one and only. He's the new member of our family. He's a Noah."

"Road," Tyki said warningly. "Don't talk too much, will you? Didn't you ever learn in school about not talking to strangers?"

"Could say the same to you," Allen said coolly. "Besides, the Earl won't care what we say, since he's the one who sent us out."

"Is it really you, Allen?" Lavi asked. "How- why are you with _them?"_

"You say them like it's a revolting thing," Allen replied, raising his eyebrows. He disappeared, suddenly, from their view, and Road's hand dropped to her side as the smirks on both hers and Tyki Mikk's faces widened. Then-

A flash of black, gold, and white.

"Lavi!" senior Bookman exclaimed, and Lenalee knew why.

Allen was leaning on Lavi, one arm around the Bookman's shoulder. His eyes regarded Lavi and her with an indifference they'd never seen before.

"You're Bookman?" he said. "So...you're on their side."

"I'll spit those words right back in your face," Lavi said, not resisting or acknowledging the boy's rather friendly gesture. Lavi's arms were still protectively around Lenalee. It was more or less trapped there. "We all thought you were dead."

"I've already heard from Road that the Exorcist died," Allen replied and turned to Lenalee. "Are you alright? You seem frightened."

"Why are you with them?" the words came out surprisingly steady. "You're not...a Noah."

There was a pause during which Allen merely stared at her, and Lenalee had the disturbing feeling of being x-rayed by those gray eyes. Had they been so piercing and cold before?

Allen blinked once. Twice. Then smiled. "I _am _a Noah," he said, and pulled his bangs away from his face. Both Exorcists watched in horror as scars in the shape of crosses appeared across Allen's forehead, adding to the scar. They noticed another thing: the Pentacle, Allen's curse, was gone.

Mana Walker's curse was gone.

"How could this be?" Lavi said. "Are you really a Noah? But- but your Innocence-!"

"Innocence?" Allen repeated. "Oh, this?" He stepped away from them, and his left hand moved slightly. It was limp, Lenalee thought, unmoving. Lifeless.

"No one's destroyed it yet," Allen told them, pulling off the glove around the red hand. The green crystal shone in the sunlight. "You see, not even the Millennium Earl can get close to it, so they made me put this glove around it. It's strange, isn't it? How much the dead Exorcist does to protect this useless weapon?"

"How can Allen be dead?" Lenalee demanded. "You're right there!"

"I'm not an Exorcist, I'm a Noah," Allen answered, reaching into his coat and pulling out a silver knife. Pointing the sharp edge at Lavi's throat, he said, "It's my turn to as questions. First off, are you ready to see the end of the world?"

* * *

Road: Welcome to _The Apostle'_s questions corner! Today, me, Jasdebi, and Allen would be answering questions! 

Jasdebi: Feel honored!

Allen: Um...nice to see you all again

Road: (hums) Now that we're done with greetings, I want to start! We don't have much to do today, one question. Maybe that's why the author put Jasdebi and Allen together. God knows how much they don't get along.

Jasdebi: ...! OH YEAH!

Allen: (jumps) W-w-w-what???

David: Your stupid general and all the debts he put on us!

Jasdero: Pay for it, apprentice! Hee!

Allen: _**Huh? Why me?!?!!?**_

Road: ...The question is from ShiraiHime. Hey! It's a cute name. (happy)

**Q: **Is Allen still extremely adorable?

Allen:

Road: (squeals)

Jasdero: GYAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

David: My...my stomach hurts.

Jasdero: Awesome question! Hee hee!

Allen: (is too flustered to say anything)

Road: Just because he's a Noah doesn't mean his face changes or anything, but he can change his appearance at will. Right?

Allen: Just the clothes and hair. I don't know about my eyes, but nothing else will budge.

David: He's more of a scar head now too, because he's got the holy crosses on his forehead too.

Jasdero: Hee hee! Scaaaaaar heeeaaaad!

Allen: ...(mutter mutter)


	7. 7th Night

The Apostle

7th Night: Allen

* * *

**Disclaimers**: I do not own any D. Gray-Man characters/settings. They rightfully belong to Mr. Katsura Hoshino.

* * *

"Allen," the girl said softly. "Is it really you?" 

"How could you be a Noah?" the patcheyed-boy demanded.

He didn't know or care how the Exorcists knew about him. Maybe he was one of them at some point in life, before he became a Noah. Or maybe he knew them as a normal human. Or maybe they'd just heard about him somewhere. He didn't know how he lived life before becoming a Noah.

_Oh well._

How they knew him, to what extent or from when and where, it didn't matter to him. They are all going to die soon anyway.

_I will kill them._

The girl Exorcist was staring at him with wide eyes. It was easy for him to read people's eyes, and he wasn't surprised to see fear and disbelief in them, swirling in the dark orbs. Yet, he also saw a flash of happiness and relief. Those eyes, they were eerily familiar.

The boy, Bookman, had a similar look in his eyes. It was harder to read his, he being what he was, but-

"You still have a long way to go, Bookman," Allen told the boy. "Bookmen aren't supposed to have hearts, are they?"

"Shut up," Bookman growled at him.

"Don't be angry," Allen said. "It's not my fault, you must have adapted to life as an Exorcist, did you...find friends, Bookman?" He glanced at the girl, whose gaze seemed to be glued on him.

"Shut up," the boy repeated.

"I truly regret you didn't get enough training," Allen continued, ignoring him. He flicked the knife in his hand, drawing a line across Bookman's cheek. Blood trickled from the cut. "Will it matter if you die? The Earl won't care if there is one missing from the audience, will he?"

"_Shut up."_

_"_You should learn some repsect as well, Bookman," Allen said, narrowing his eyes. "Not that that'll change my mind, of course. It's either I kill you now or I kill you later. Either way, none of you are going to survive."

"Shut- UP!" another voice yelled, and Allen sensed danger coming just in time. He took a step backward, and a long haired man came crashing down right where he had been standing, a katana sword in his hand, a murderous glare in his dark eyes. The black coat he wore flapped behind him from the momentum, and the embroidered Rose Cross crest on his chest seemed to burn itself in Allen's eyes.

The Exorcist didn't falter in his movements and was immediately attacking him again. Slashing, slicing, swinging the Innocence blade, obviously in an attempt to chop off his head. Allen dodged all of them, but there was no point in denying that he scarcely had a split-second warning before each attack.

_Damn, _he thought as the blade barely missed his nose and a lock of his white hair fell onto the ground.

_He's fast._

The Exorcist only stopped his advances when Allen backed up to where Road and Tyki were standing. Smart choice. Even an Exorcist like him wouldn't have a chance against three Noah.

"What are you doing, Allen?" Tyki asked boredly. "Can't you just kill him if you wanted? You can stop his movements, can't you?"

"Yes," Allen muttered, "but there wasn't time to think, really. You try dodging all that."

Road giggled. "Are you going to kill Bookman, Allen?"

Allen glanced at the red haired boy again, who was helping the girl Exorcist to her feet. They were both watching him, and Allen was starting to feel discomfortable under their intense glares.

But neither of them were that strong, not as much as the sword wielding Exorcist. "Maybe, but I think he will be a bore," Allen told Road, putting his knife back into the inside pocket of his coat. "He will a better prey for you, Road, honestly."

"Quit your chatting, fiend," the long haired Exorcist said harshly. "Easygoing, aren't you?"

"Well," Tyki shrugged with a weary grin, and Alln heard him let out a sigh as the man ruffled his hair. "You're really no match for this kid, you know? He really can't find much motivation. Especially since he now knows what your weapon is."

"He knows what I use," the Exorcist said. "So what?"

Allen felt himself smile and stepped forward once again. Digging into his pocket, he pulled out a leather sheath and a wooden hilt, both of which were decorated with a picture of a strangely shaped butterfly. "Well, now," he said, tugging on the hilt, "since it seems that you too are an exceptional wielder of a sword, let's have a match." With another smile, Allen swung the blade of his weapon in an arc, making a swishing sound as the sharp edge cut through the air.

Whatever the Exorcist had been expecting, it wasn't what he saw, and Allen didn't blame him for the surprise: his sheath was barely a foot long, whilst the sword he held was nearly three feet long. The other Exorcists were also goggling it, and Allen felt satisfaction at their shock.

Behind him, Road was clapping. "Do some more, Mr. Magician," she said. "Show us some blood. I really wonder what Exorcist blood looks like."

"Keh, harm me if you can," the Exorcist scowled, and disappeared from sight. Allen instinctively ducked and raised his sword, effectively stopping the anti-Akuma weapon from cutting him in half.

"You're fast," Allen said, "but not fast enough."

"Git," the Exorcist spat, and both of them jumped away from each other.

"How about you introduce yourself?" Allen asked pleasantly, landing lightly between the old man and the two younger Exorcists. "I am Allen Walker of the Clan of Noah. You are who of the Exorcists?"

"It's Kanda," the Exorcist said dismissively, "not that it should matter to an idiot that's going to die now."

"Me?" Allen said as they clashed weapons once again. "I won't die, and I wonder- what did I do to you?"

"Ah?" Kanda said.

"You keep calling me names-"

"I'll call you whatever I want!" Kanda snapped. He gave another attempt to cut off Allen's head, and when he blocked, Allen felt his sword vibrate slightly.

"That isn't very nice, is it?" Allen asked, slashing his sword. Kanda jumped away.

_Slow, _Allen thought, seeing the rip he'd made in them hem of Kanda's coat.

"What happened? You were able to dodge every attack before this one."

Kanda stumbled as he landed and wiped his mouth. Pulling his hand away, Allen saw a smirk cross his face. "What does it matter?" Kanda sneered.

"I guess it doens't," Allen replied, straightening up. He watched Kanda for a while as the latter glared at him, breathing rather heavily. "Are you tired? I heard you've been out in this town for a while. I'm guessing you've fought a lot of Akuma in the past few days."

"Oh yeah," Kanda said, "I'm dead tired, but I've still got enough strength to take you down, shrimp."

"Let's see about that," Allen said and sheathed his sword. Kanda's newly intensified glare burnt into him as he put away the leather sheath and hilt.

_What the hell are you up to now? _the eyes demanded.

"Giving up?" Kanda said. "Ridiculous."

Allen smiled and walked up to the Exorcist, for the first time taking in the dust covered coat and his hair, which was starting to fall out of the ponytail it was in. Kanda's hands were bruised and slightly burnt from his previous battles, and there was a rip in his pants.

When Allen was just barely out of his attacking range, Kanda raised his sword. It clicked, and Allen felt the point of it poke his throat as he stopped in his steps. He saw Kanda's grip tighten, his knees tense- He was going to come.

"Freeze," Allen said simply, and Kanda, who had been just about to step forward and puncture his throat, never made his move.

His eyes widened, and a stunned look fell on his face, replacing the determined one that had been there earlier. The Exorcist looked down at his feet and tried to tug them off the ground, but Allen could only suppress his laughter, for the attemps were futile. Kanda then tried to move his arms, but the result was the same.

"Yu!" Bookman gasped, but Allen merely waved his hand and the cobblestone street around the other Exorcists transformed themselves into cages.

"Damn it! What are you?"

"Kanda! Are you all right?" the girl Exorcist asked anxiously.

"You have great friends, don't you?" Allen said to Kanda, who only continued trying to move his frozen body. "Don't waste your time, Kanda," Allen chuckled finally after a minute of watching his opponent. "You can't move unless I allow you too, period."

Kanda made an impatient, frustrated noise in the back of his throat and turned to look at him with fierce eyes. "What did you do?" he demanded.

"I simply gave an order, it won't harm you, of course," Allen said. "Now that we have all the time we need, I'd like to make a prediction."

"A prediction?" Kanda repeated, suspicion dripping like poison from every word. "What now? You can conjure swords and cages, freeze bodies, and you can read the future?"

"They all eventually end up in the same place, really," Allen shrugged. "Well, anyway..." He raised his gloved hand and pointed it at Kanda's face, poking the Exorcist's forehead. Smiling, he said, "The world will definetly end. You'll all live until that day, but when the day comes, none of you will survive. I'm sure you're tired of hearing it because all of us say it, but you should know that this is inevitable. You _will _die, Kanda."

Kanda spat at him.

"You'll be able to move the moment we disappear, and the cages will crumble," Allen added. "At first I was planning on kill you, but I guess I should let my siblings play with you before we go. What about it, Road? Tyki?"

"Nah," Tyki said boredly, scratching his head. "But can we play poker afterwards? As long as you don't strip me down to my underwear again."

"I'll do it again," Road said with a wave of her arm. "Today's your day, Allen. Nobody said all of us has to fight, but you owe me candy!"

"I guess there's a store nearby," Allen muttered. "Then let's go, huh? Oh yes, it was nice meeting you Kanda, hope to see you again. Road? Tyki? Please go ahead, I'll catch up soon."

The two Noahs left, and Allen smiled at the Exorcists. "Good day, my enemies," he said, and with a snap of his fingers, the cages holding the three Exorcists captive melted away. Kanda's knees gave away, and he fell to the ground. Before any of them could react, Allen disappeared into the shadows, chasing after Tyki and Road.

_That was fun. Too bad I didn't kill them. I should have..._

But a shock like electricity flashed through him at that thought, and Allen faltered in his steps as the world spun.

"Wha-?"

_Don't kill them, _a voice in his mind said. It was familiar, more than the girl's eyes...

"Who are you?"

_Don't kill them, _the voice repeated, and Allen blinked.

"...Me?"

* * *

Lavi: Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand we're back! D. Gray-Man fanfiction, _The Apostle_, questions corner. I'll be your host for the day, Lavi! Wheee! 

Allen: He's rather hyper today, but please don't mind him.

Krory: Something good must have happened. (smile)

Kanda: Keh. Hyperactive idiot.

Lavi: (bounces around and puts an arm around Krory) He's appeared once in this story so far, remember him, everyone? Kuro-chan, say hello to everyone!

Krory: H-h-hello..

Allen: (reads the questions list) From flower miko, this is another one I'm not supposed to talk about. (sighs) Oh well, I'll read it anyway...

**Q:**Will Allen [not the Noah Desire ever return?

Lavi: That's really the whole point of this story, isn't it? If he spills that, then there won't be anything good about the ending...

Krory: (nods)

Kanda: Cheh.

Krory: Here is the next one, again from flower miko. Thank you for your conttributions..

**Q: **Why dose Kanda mind when people [when I say "people" I mostly mean Lavi call him "Yuu"? Becasue, in Japanese, yuu stands for bravery, courage, heroism ... all the things Kanda is

Kanda: (twitches violently, vein pops in temple)

Lavi: (sniggers)

Allen: I really don't know...or care.

Kanda: ...

Lavi: I think it he just doesn't like it. And I don't think Hoshino really cared about the meaning of his name because 'Yu' is written in _katakana, _not _kanji, _so we don't know what kind of character he was imagining when he made the name for Yu-

Allen: It was actually a name Hoshino pulled from one of his _old _series.

Kanda: And do you have a problem with that?!!?

Lavi: But seriously, why do you mind? Not that the reason's going to stop me.

Kanda: (gets angrier and stomps off)

Krory: Did I say something bad? (anxious) M-maybe I read the question wrong...!

Allen: You didn't. Kanda's just being stingy.

Lavi: Hey! _Yu!_ Wait up! (runs after Kanda and drags him back)

Kanda: LET GO!

Allen: There's another question, guys. From yumiwalker90.

**Q: **Is Tiki something like afraid of Allen's abilities? 'Cause it seems like it while they took this picture...

Allen: ...???

Lavi: Oh yeah, I read this part. Yeah, Allen, he called you creepy.

Krory: (nods) Being able to control people's wills is...it is a bit scary, isn't it? (shakes his head)

Kanda: (rolls eyes)

Allen: (smiles widely) Oh, that? Yes, that. But there's more. (laughs)

Lavi/Krory: (eyes wide and backs away)

Kanda: (glares at Allen) Git.

Allen: I'm still stronger than you.

Lavi: A-Allen, that's not a nice thing to say...well...I guess we'd better go now, Kuro-chan, before a fight breaks out...

_**CRASH!!**_

Krory: It's too late now, I think...

Lavi: Not again..! Well, thanks for reading guys, good night! _No! _Yu! YOU CAN'T USE MUGEN IN HERE! ALLEN, PUT AWAY THAT ARM!

Krory: Fighting isn't good! (flustered and worried)


	8. 8th Night

The Apostle

8th Night: Plans

* * *

**Disclaimers**: I do not own any D. Gray-Man characters/settings. They rightfully belong to Mr. Katsura Hoshino.

* * *

"Supervisor!" Reever yelled, running into Komui's paper cluttered office, nearly slipping on the papers littering the ground. "Is it true- I heard the rumors- Johnny and someone was talking- Allen-" 

"Calm down, Reever," Komui sighed, lifting his head up from an open book. His face was clouded with concern. "It's not like you to be so flustered. What did you hear?"

"That-" Reever said, and took a deep breath. "That Allen was seen with the Clan of Noah. Is it...is it true?"

"I heard it directly from Lavi and the others, and they say Kanda fought him," Komui said, rubbing his eyes. "Allen is alive and well, and he is on the Millenium Earl's side."

"So what you told me before," Reever's voice was low and disheartened. "What you said about him not coming back to us, that was true..."

"Although I am glad he isn't dead," Komui said, straining his voice not to break, "if Allen has appeared on the Earl's side, he is no longer our comrade. He's betrayed us, and God. What bothers me is-"

"_Togaochi," _Reever gasped. "Won't Allen be punished by God- killed by the Innocence?"

"According to Lavi's report, it did not seem that Allen has just recently joined the Earl," Komui said. "It is reasonable to think that he joined them not long after he supposedly died last winter. That is why it's strange that he is still alive. It's been months, Allen could have said everything he knows about the Order, so why hasn't he become a Fallen One? It's not a scientific theory, but there is a possibility as to why."

"Supervisor?" Reever said in puzzlement, seeing Komui's face become, if possible, more darker with gloominess.

"Lavi said that Allen is one of the Noah, that the crosses appeared across his forehead," Komui sighed. "My threory is that it is because of the Noah in him that the Innocence cannot punish him. His genes, the blood of Noah in him, must be suppressing the power of the Innocence, thus keeping Allen alive."

"But- but that _can't _be possible!" Reever exclaimed. "Allen can't be a Noah as well as an Exorcist. How could it be? Chosen by _two _Gods?"

"But it is possible," Komui said quietly, flipping through the book he'd been reading. "We know for a fact that Allen was, indeed, an Exorcist. He had the Innocence in his body, and he was able to destroy Akuma with it. And Lavi says that the two Noah who were with Allen didn't do anything, they were just watching as he fought. That means that nobody used an illusion on them, and the crosses on Allen's forehead are real. That means Allen is also a Noah."

"That sounds so bizarre," Reever muttered, scoffing. "It's hard to believe. That Allen...he was one of the most determined Exorcists we've ever seen. He was always saying he wanted to save the people who couldn't save themselves. It's hard to think he's now on the side that's using those people."

"It's a crazy thought," Komui said, standing up and walking over to a window, "but it's true.

"Reever, I've received orders from the Grand Generals, I'd like you to relay them Lavi and the others."

"Yes?"

"We...the Black Order cannot afford to let the Millennium Earl destroy the world. According to witnesses, all of the Noah are gathered in the city where Lavi and the others are. They are to work on eliminating all Noahs and, possibly, defeat the Earl."

"All...?"

"Yes, all of the Noahs must be killed," Komui confimed, biting his lips befor adding, "Allen too."

----------

"What are you looking at Allen?" Tyki asked the boy, who was staring into empty space with a glazed look in his eyes. It was strange, considering that Allen, despite his young age and easily confused innocence, was always alert and quick to react to everything. Tyki had already said the boy's name several times without any reaction whatsoever. It was strange. Unusual. Weird. Unlike Allen at all.

And again, just like the past few questions, Tyki found himself ignored as Allen, chewing idly on the fork in his mouth, gazed dreamily out of the cafe window.

Sitting between them, Road was happily eating her chocolate cake, watched longingly by the Millennium Earl's pink pumpkin-headed umbrella, Lero. She too looked at Allen and at the cake Allen hadn't finished. That in itself was a shocking event, Tyki thought.

"Allen?" Road said questioningly, pulling on the sleeve of the boy's black coat. "Your tea's turning old, Allen."

"Huh?" Allen said, blinking and turning to Road quickly. "Sorry, uh, did you say something?" he asked hastily, smiling sheepishly.

"You tea," Road motioned to the cup, and asked, "What were you looking at?"

"What was I...?"

"It must have been something interesting," Tyki said, sipping his cup of coffee, fulling enjoying the luxury of the beautiful, clean cafe.

"That group of entertainers down there," Allen said, nodding down at the city square where a small circus was performing for a large crowd of spectators. "I don't know why, but it gives me a feeling nostalgia."

Tyki raised his eyebrows and took another sip of his coffee. Ah, the taste of wealth, he thought with a chuckle. It wasn't an everyday thing that a homeless man like him walked into such places, but since he was often in his Noah form as of late, he was determined to savor every moment of it. Allen, however, became a Noah with the exchange of all of his past memories, and Tyki didn't know, either, what kind of life the boy used to live. He had a doubt, though, that it would have anything to do with a circus.

Something gleamed in Road's eyes, but the girl said nothing. Tyki wondered if she knew anything about Allen and clowns.

"Anyway," Tyki sighed, grimacing at the thought. "What are you going to do from now, Allen?"

"Huh?" Allen said.

"I heard rumors that the Exorcists here were given the order to kill you."

"They're definetly going to go after all of us," Road said in a rather chipper voice, stuffing her mouth with another large bite of the cake. Chocolate frosting was smeared all over her face.

Allen laughed. It wasn't a hearty laugh, but it wasn't a chuckle, either. Tyki found this boy's laugh particularly pleasant and maybe even musical. He didn't understand why though.

"They probably would," Allen said to Road, handing her a handkerchief. "But we won't be killed by them. We have our own duties."

"You and your hunch that you know where the Exorcists all live?" Tyki asked, remembering one of the first things the Millennium Earl had asked the boy. "What are we going to do about it?"

"Aw, Tyki," Road said sweetly. "We're at war right now, if you have a hint of where the enemy's hideout is, what would you do?"

"I'm half doing this for fun," Tyki said. "I wouldn't care."

"It won't be long," Allen said to him, a smile playing on his lips as he turned to look at the circus again. "The Exorcists will fall, and the Earl would win this war once and for all.

"I won't let him lose."

"Ho ho, so loyal to the Duke, aren't you?" Tyki asked, amused.

Allen's smile widened. "Of course," he said.

"Let's get going," Road said, gulping down the last of her cake and waving over a waiter. Handing him some silver coins, she hopped off her chair and grabbed Lero. "We have to make sure the Exorcists follow us, right?"

The playfullness in Allen's eye vanished as the boy stood up, followed by Tyki. The three Noah stepped out of the cafe into the lively street. As they made their way through the crowd around the circus, Allen turned to Tyki.

"We'll have to use some bait," he said. "In the next town, we'll find random townspeople. It can be anybody, but we have to make sure _they _take notice."

"Are you saying you want me to do it in the same way that I killed Kevin Yeeger?" Tyki asked, slipping a cigarette between his teeth and searching his pockets for a matchbox. "Fine with me, but how do you figure they will notice that?"

"I know a squad of their Finders are headed that way," Allen answered. "They'll be the ones to find it for us, and once they notice that the dead body hasn't a trace of wound nor poison on their being...and I'll do something too."

"Make it obvious to them, Allen," Road giggled. "Let's remind them of their old general by hanging the body somewhere."

Tyki shuddered exaggeratedly. "You two are seriously creepy," he said, casting them a look. Road, smiling as always, giggled again and stuck her tongue out at Tyki and skipped ahead. Allen watched her, turned to Tyki, and shrugged, a cheeky grin on his face. Tyki sighed, patted the boy's shoulder, and the two of them walked after Road, not hurrying, for they knew she didn't need baby-stting, and also because they knew Lero was with her.

Two weeks later. That was when the Black Order was given a report from investigating Finders about mysterious deaths which were most likely- most definetly- caused by the Clan of Noah. This time, although, it wasn't only Reever that came dashing in to Komui's office. Many other scientists came in as well, along with numerous questions regarding the deaths, which Exorcists to send out, and what else should they do?

"I've ordered Bookman Lavi and his group to do what they could about the Noah," Komui answered to all of their questions. "The bodies sent here have been found in the same circumstances as General Yeeger and two of the Exorcists that have died. It's easy to come to the conclusion that the same person killed them. It is definetly the job of a Noah."

_But why? _Komui wondered, racking his brains for an answer. _Why kill citizens who should have nothingn to do with the war? To make Akuma? To make Akuma evolve? If it was so, then why weren't there any Akuma in the vicinity of the deaths? Why haven't there been any people turned to dust?_

_"_Supervisor," Johnny Gill said nervously. "Is it really wise to only send Lenalee and the others? There are four of them, but Lenalee can't fight..."

Johnny was one of the people who'd heard the rumor about Allen, but Reever was the only one Komui had confirmed the truth to, and he had been given strict orders not to tell this to anyone unless Komui said so. Johnny doesn't _know _about Allen, or what he is, or what the boy is doing...

"It has to be them, Johnny," Komui said calmly. "It has to be the four of them that goes after the Noah, for it is only then that they can move on."

"From what, Supervisor?" Johnny asked.

"Johnny, do you remember the white haired boy who died last Christmas?"

"Of course! Lenalee cried for a month after Allen died-!"

"That's why she has to be the one to eliminate the Noah," Komui said, looking Johnny straight in the eye. "Because the Noah are the ones who killed the Allen we know, because Allen will never come back, because he isn't willing to come back."

"Supevisor, what are you talking about?" Johnny questioned.

"Allen Walker is a Noah. Lenalee was denying until just a few weeks ago that he was still alive, and now that he's back, she is most likely to deny that he is a Noah, proof under her nose or not," Komui said impatiently, turning away and shuffling his papers. "Unless she personally fights the boy, sees him fighting her comrades, sees him on the other side of this war, there is no way she would believe that he really is the enemy now."

Honestly, Komui doubted that Johnny heard more than the first sentence. He'd come to realize one thing about his subordinates: once they heard something remotely shocking, the minds shut down and they wouldn't hear anything that came afterwards. Komui sometimes wondered why he didn't give them a break, for being a scientist in the black order would require the ability to keep their cool until the end of a research, lecture, etc. and not 'flip out' (as Lavi, who was somewhat less intellectual than the scientists when he said the phrase) about a certain thing and miss the rest.

That was why Komui wasn't surprised when the shocked Johnny exclaimed, "Allen is a _Noah?" _and then questioned him again on why is had to be Lenalee and Lavi (who, to the outsiders' eyes, were the closest to Allen) who eliminated the Noah.

* * *

Reever: Hello...Intelligentsia Guy at your service. Today me, Allen, and Lavi were volunteered to answer all your questions...Allen, what's the bandage for? 

Allen: Kanda tried to kill me during questions corner last chapter. Lavi's worse than me though, I accidentally hit him in the head...

Lavi: I'm still dizzy...

Reever: (sigh) Fixing the room was a big pain, you know? Because of it I lost ten precious hours of sleep...Uh...this one is from mangafreak7793...

**Q:** Is a sword Allen't noah power and if it is how strong is he at a rate of 1 to 10

Allen: That's not my power.

Lavi: Then what is?

Allen: ...I'm not allowed to tell you. (_siiiiiiiiiiiigh_)

Lavi: Here's one from tenkage onna. (had expected that answer from Allen)

**Q: **allen is...er, evil?

Allen: _Huh? _I didn't _ask _to be evil...(gloom...)

Lavi: Ah...Allen went into the corner of woe...(sweatdrop)

Reever: Uh...(ruffles paper) Well, since we don't have any more questions, it's time we go and prepare for next chapter... 


	9. 9th Night

The Apostle

9th Night: Mana

* * *

**Disclaimers**: I do not own any D. Gray-Man characters/settings. They rightfully belong to Mr. Katsura Hoshino.

* * *

A checkered tile floor. A maroon, velvet sofa. Golden pillows. A light without a source. A peaceful thrumming, an unidentifiable hymn. A soft pulsing around him, vibrating off of the black walls. Something trickling down them. The smell of iron. Blood. 

He felt weightless. It was as if he was floating in the middle of surrealism, a place between life and death, this world and the other, illusion and reality, consciousness and unawareness. There wasn't solid, gas, nor liquid here. Only memories, swilring around somewhere beneath the surface of the checkered floor.

He knew where this was without really knowing why he knew. He just did. He had always been here, all his life. It was where all of his memories lived, all of his hopes and fears, love and hates, his past, present, and future. His heart. His mind. Something he would never be able to apprehend, yet something that always understood his everything: his thoughts, his feelings, his reasons.

It was his heart. His mind. In a nutshell, it was his sould, his very being.

What was he doing here though?

Why was he here?

You might ask.

He'd like to ask that himself.

Allen stirred and rolled over, cried out in surprise and pain when he fell off the sofa and hit his head hard on the floor. He sat up, looking around for the first time.

"I was just dreaming about this though," he muttered, listening in wonder as his voice called back to him. It was as if he was in some kind of cathedral...

He winced. He put his hand over the left side of his face, which was pulsing and throbbing slightly, creating an annoying rhythm. Something was wrong though. Something was missing. It was a familiar feeling, something from before he was cursed-

"Mana?" he said softly to the scar across his cheek. "Are you still there?"

His most recent recollections swirled past and around him, coming to a stop in front of him. It was like a moving picture: two Noahs that were giving him bloodthirstyyet welcoming smiles; hundreds of candles flying towards him, piercing his clothes and pinning him to a stone wall; the ghost of his father emerging from his cursed eye, holding out his hand; taking that outstretched hand, the feeling of being sucked in by his own body. Then nothing. Black.

And now this.

"Mana?" Allen called again.

"_Are you awake, Allen?" _a distant voice asked.

"Mana?" Allen said, his voice stronger now that he'd heard the very familiar voice. "Mana, where are you? I can't see you. What are you doing here? Where's Road and Tyki Mikk? I was just fighting them and-"

"_The fight ended four months ago," _Mana replied calmly. "_The most I was able to do was make _you _disappear before breaking. The other _you _is controlling your body now."_

_"_Four months?" Allen repeated. "Mana, please explain everything! What happened to me? The other me? What are you talking about? _Where are you, Mana?"_

"_Allen, you are no longer under my curse," _Mana continued as if Allen had never spoken. "_I had to undo it in order to save you."_

_"_Save me from _what, _Mana-?"

"_Watch out for yourself, Allen, and your comrades?"_

"My comrades? Are they in danger?" Allen demanded, anxiety sinking in. "Mana-! _Ah!"_

He fell over again, slipping on a puddle of blood around his feet...it wasn't there before.

"What is this blood?" he whispered suspiciously as his gloved hands turned a darker crimson, blood smearing them as he watched, even thought he wasn't hurt-

"_That is the blood of the people _you _have killed," _Mana said. "_Allen, take a look-"_

A large, circular mirror appeared before the boy. It glowed for a moment, then the light settled. Allen peered into it and gasped.

"That's me!" he exclaimed. "And the Noah- what's going on, Mana?"

"_I will explain everything, Allen," _Mana said just as a hatted man in a purple coat and green striped pants walked out of the darkness. "_I will tell you everything if you promise me one thing."_

"Anything, Mana," Allen said to the father he was seeing for the first time in four years.

"_You must continue forward, until you overcome this fate God has set for you," _Mana said. "_That is my message as a deliverer from the other world."_

_"_Heaven-?"

"_The land of God," _Mana said. "_Do you promise me, Allen?"_

_"_Yes-"

"_Then watch what _you _are doing," _Mana told him in that familar, fatherly voice Allen'd missed so much. _"Watch, and I will begin my- your_- _story."_

_------------------------- _

"_What _the _hell _is _that?" _David and Jasdero demanded loudly, pointing their fingers at Allen, whose clothes, face, and hair were splattered with a dark reddish substance.

"Blood," Allen answered, licking his fingers.

"You've been killing?" David asked, staring apprehensively at the dangerous appearance of the white haired boy.

"For bait, yeah," Tyki answered, fanning himself with a book. "We're just dropping in to report to the Earl, and then we're going to continue the job. It was a messy picture, really, after this kid kills. There's blood _everywhere."_

"How did you do it?" Jasdero said, looking exhilarated. "Shoot them? Stab them? Or-"

Allen looked up from his bloodsoaked gloves, eyes cold and bright. Tyki wondered how and why the boy's eyes, from their innocent wide, stormy grayness, changed to that icy coldness with every kill. It wasn't just those times, the past month and a half, the boy's eyes were changing more and more frequently.

The Noah in him would soon be awakened completely.

And yet, the boy was already this strong.

What a monster.

"I blew up their heads," Allen told Jasdero staring at his coat. The bloodstains on the fabric immediately cleared away in a dim glow of blue light, and with a shake of his head, Allen's white hair returned to their show white cleanness. Allen rubbed his fingers over the blood on his face, and those, too, disappeared. It only took around a minute. There wasn't trace nor shadow of the past few kills on the boy anymore. He was squeaky clean and free of blood. But his eyes were still the same. "In some cases, I made one or more organs rupture inside the body."

"Creeeeeeeeeeeepy," David hissed. "Aren't you bloodthirsty?"

"It was the easiest way to catch their attention," Allen shrugged. "It's not everyday you come across a dead body surrounded by bits of meat and brain, is it?"

"Road's back," Tyki said as the little girl skipped into the room.

Latching onto Allen's arm, Road said, "The Earl says we're doing a good job and to make sure we keep it up. Oh, and he told me to tell Jasdebi to hurry up and find Cross."

"But-!" Jasdero squeaked.

"The damn general is a pain in the _ass_ to catch!" David yelled, knocking over a table and throwing a vase that hit Allen in the head. ("OWWWWWWWWW!") "We've been looking for him all _over _the place! We find him, he's gone. God, that last time we found his house the only thing that was there was a bottle of _rum!"_

_"_Do you have to take it out on me?" Allen whined. Tyki blinked. Those large innocent eyes were shining with tears.

The boy was back.

The murderer was gone.

The Noah was gone.

What's with him?

"Say, boy," Tyki said to Allen.

"Huh?"

"Do you have a split personality?"

"Whu-?"

"...Never mind."

"You're weird, Tyki," David and Road said.

"Shut up."

"That's not nice," Allen said with a chuckle. "Come on, Tyki, we should get going now. They'd been on the move by now-"

"Who?" Jasdero asked.

"Exorcists-"

"Can we join you?"

"I think you should go find General Cross, Jasdebi," Allen said.

"Hey! _You _shut up-!"

"Come _on_, Tyki," Road beckoned playfully, grabbing a troubled Lero and waving her other hand. A large, brightly colored door conjured itself beside the girl.

"Fine, fine, I'm going, I'm going," Tyki sighed heavily, walking over to his siblings. The doors opened, and he followed the two through them, into a dark portal of swirling colors -through Road's realm of 'dreams'- and out another door, into the real world on the other side.

They were now standing in an alley. The sunlight barely seeped in through the small space between the tall buildings, making Allen's snow white hair stand out against the shadows. Ahead of them, near the end of the alley, were two men dressed in off white coats, carrying what looked like portable telephones.

Finders.

"Tyki, if you will," Allen said, nodding at the two men. Tyki understood what the boy meant without trying to. Sighing once again, he called out his butterfly golem, Tease, placing it over his silk gloves. Tyki walked over to the two Finders and, before either could react, slipped his hands into their bodies.

"Feast on them, Tease," he commanded and hearkened to the addicting, choked gurgles coming from the humans as the butterfly ate and chewed on their living organs from the inside.

"Try not to get blood on the coats, Tyki," Allen said as he and Road appeared beside him. Tyki noticed that the boy's hair was now a deep black, lengthened so that it hid the scarred eye. His showing eye glinted emerald green, staring down at the dead bodies with indifference. Bending down, the boy tugging the coats off the bodies, throwing one over his small shoulders and handing the other to Tyki. "Road, you understand what to do, don't you?"

"From the outside," Road said in a whiny voice. "It would be so much more fun to go in with you and run the risk of being caught."

"Road-"

"I'm just kidding, Allen," she said quickly.

"Right, well, follow me," Allen said hoisting the phone box on his back. Tyki did so as well, both of them pulling the hoods over their heads. "I somehow know that the waterways are thataway."

* * *

Allen: Hello, everyone. It's Allen Walker, and I'm here to deliver the answers to the questions. Today, I'm joined by our regular reporter, the Bookman, Lavi, Lenalee, and- _URK!!!!_

Lavi: What's wrong? Huh?

Cross: Idiot apprentice. What have you been up to until now? Fooling around, being in a silly story-

Allen: It's been...a while...Master...(green in the face)

Lenalee: Hello General Cross.

Cross: You dragged me here for _what, _damned greenhorns. What is this? _Headquarters??!?_ Allen, didn't I mention before that I absolutely _despise _this dirty place?

Lavi: Hey, it's the author that pulled you in here. It's because- look! Here's a question about you from HakumeiN. I'll read it-

**Q: **Did General Cross hear about it yet?

Cross: Hear about what?

Allen/Lavi: You don't want to know.

Cross: 'It' would have something to do with Allen?

Lavi: _How _did you _know???_

Allen: Lavi...(near tears)

Lenalee: Allen, are you all right?

Cross: Have you paid off all the debts?

Allen: (snap) PAY OFF ALL YOUR DEBTS YOURSELF, MASTER!!!!!

Lavi: Allen, sit. Next, read!

Allen: All right...It's another one from HakumeiN.

**Q:**Also, are you sure you wanna keep it no pairings? I would love to see AllenxLenalee, but he's already dead to her. Also, the way you portrayed Lenalee's feelings towards Allen before he "died" seemed more romantic than maternal.

Lavi: I don't think the author will change her mind. She doesn't like pairings much, but she did spill something about maybe Yu will be a bit OOC in the end- but honestly, aren't we all OOC in this?

Allen/Lenalee: ...

Lavi: What? Don't I get any response at all? General?

Cross: (drinking wine, completely ignoring the question)

Lavi: Fine.

Allen: Komui will kill me...

Lenalee: Oh God...

Lavi: (sigh) Moving on. From ShiraiHime.**  
**

**Q: ** Will there be a happily ever after or will it end with like,"everyone dies"?

Allen: (recovers) I hope no one dies.

Lenalee: I don't want to lose my family anymore...(gloom)

Lavi: Oh shoot.

Allen: Lenalee, don't worry, the author is rather cruel with us so far, but I don't think she'll be _that _cruel-!

Lavi: Aren't all fanfiction authors cruel?

Allen: True, but-

Lenalee: I think I'll be okay.

Cross: (sip, slurp) Get moving, brats.

Allen: Hey-!

Lavi: Here's another one from ShiraiHime. _We really need the author to stop putting Allen on duty with people he don't get along with._

**Q: **Besides "beansprout","idiot" and shrimp,what other nicknames does Allen have?

Cross/Lavi: "Idiot apprentice" (from Cross), "naive newbie" (Kanda)...anything else?

Lenalee: (quietly) I wonder why nobody calls him "glutton"...

Allen: (deep sigh) I heard that, Lenalee.


	10. 10th Night

The Apostle

10th Night: Conflict Inside

* * *

**Disclaimers**: I do not own any D. Gray-Man characters/settings. They rightfully belong to Mr. Katsura Hoshino.

* * *

Lavi was somewhere behind the nearby bush, on his knees, retching and heaving, coughing up the remainder of his breakfast from earlier. Toma and Kanda were slightly green faced, their hands trembling, and even the precedent of Bookman looked aghast as he stared narrowed-eyed at the fifteen bodies that lay on the ground, on bloodstained wooden boards, before them. They were of innocent people of this unknowing city, victims of a Noah attack randomly picked out because they were merely passing by, or because the Noah had sensed something in the used-to-be living people that made their bloodlust lose control. 

Either way, Lenalee couldn't believe the brutality of the murders. She was scared, also, by the possibility that the gentle Allen was one of the culprits in this.

There were a couple squads of Finders standing around, placing white sheets of cloth over the bodies or recording information to give to the scientists of the Black Order, who were still inside the building to their left, performing the postmortem examinations on the remaining three bodies.

"Terrible," Lavi grunted, reappearing beside her as he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "It's disgusting."

"We know not so far of a Noah who kills in such a way," senior Bookman said grimly, his irritation from earlier forgotten. On the way to the town, Lavi had insisted that not having a name or title made the old man quite hard to address, and thus so gave him a nickname, Panda, which quite expectedly resulted in the old man losing his temper, hitting Lavi hard on the head, and yelling angrily at him to show some more respect to his seniors, although the scolding was, as per usual, completely ignored by the casual Bookman. Now known as Panda, the precedent of the Bookman must think that trivial things as a silly nickname was childish and insignificant. Lenalee would have to agree with that, too.

A Finder walked up to Toma, handing him a clipboard and whispering something to him before hurrying away. The hooded Finder walked up to the Exorcists who awaited the report patiently.

Toma cleared his throat. "Out of the eighteen victims, eight of them were killed in a similar way as General Yeeger: at least one of their organs were ripped out completely without any outside damage," he said, reading the information and summarizing it quickly.

"It's wise to think that the Noah who killed General Yeeger is involved with this incident," Lavi stated. Panda nodded in agreement.

"The other seven, and most likely the other three in the operation rooms as well, were, as you can see, killed in a more brutal and obvious way, unlike the others," Toma continued. "As you can see, it is as if someone had implanted miniture explosives in the bodies..."

"Or it was just some power of another Noah and they mystically made the heads and organs blow up," Kanda said, glaring in disgust at the bloody bodies the other Finders were now covering up with a white cloth.

Lenalee looked around, seeing a flash of golden hair as a little boy, barely five years old by the looks of him, was gently veiled, his eyes wide with sheer terror and pain, a large hole gaping in his chest where his heart had ruptured.

"The only way to prevent anyone from becoming Akuma is to say that every one of these people ran away frome home," Panda said, "but with this many people, saying so would be more suspicious."

"Must've been part of their plan," Kanda said, "killing too many people to say it's a runaway case so that it would be impossible to hide that these all died. Then, there would be eighteen Akuma born from this sadness and the soul of these deaths, and the Earl would only have gained more weapons. It's a new chapter where we Exorcists can't prevent the increase of Akuma count."

"A new chapter," Lenalee repeated softly, remembering what Allen and Road had said.

_He finally decided to start the music._

_We're in charge of starting the new chapter..._

Lenalee shuddered violently and hugged herself tightly, a cold shiver pouring down her spine in large quaking waves.

"Could it have been Allen who did this?" she said to Lavi when he sent her a questioning look. "Could it have been Allen who this something so horrible to these people?"

Lavi's one visible eye widened in disbelief, and he said, "Can't have, Lenalee. A guy like Allen..."

"The Allen we know disliked Kanda a lot," Lenalee said, "but he would never have attacked Kanda. Never. We don't know anything about Allen anymore. Nothing...he might have killed all of these people and we have no proof against it."

"Lenalee," Lavi said, voice barely above a whisper.

"We have to go now," Lenalee said with a shake of her head. "Guard the town, keep an eye out for any sign of the Earl."

"But-"

"Miss Lena is right," Panda said. "We will be taking our leave," he told the Finders squad. "It is benign to give these poor souls a proper burial."

"Understood," one of the Finders said, nodding.

"Let's go," Kanda said impatiently, already walking off. The others followed him, Toma taking up the rear as he bid farewell to his fellows. Who knew when they'd see each other again...

"Let's split," Lavi suggested.

"I'm not pairing up with anyone," Kanda said to him. "Toma can go with the geezer."

"All right," Panda nodded, sending Toma a look of acknowledgement.

"I'll go with Lenalee," Lavi said, looking to the girl for agreement, which was promptly given. "It's a fairly small town, so the communication golems will stay in reach of each other. There's only one Earl, so if one of us finds him, we gather. That OK with everyone?"

Kanda gazed at the red haired Bookman for a few seconds, then disappeared around a corner. Taking that as a yes, Lavi turned to the other group, who both agreed it was an ideal plan, and separated.

"There are lots of houses down this street," Lavi told Lenalee. "According to the map I saw earlier in the post office near the gates, this town is shaped exactly like that other town did before the Akuma and Noah attack. That'll make it easier for you to get around, won't it?"

"Yes," Lenalee nodded, already recognizing similar street patterns. "Do you think he _will_ appear?"

"Dunno, but if he does, I want answers," Lavi replied. "Not just because Bookman seek information wherever they go, but because Allen was- still is- my friend."

"Allen said that the Exorcist died," she said suddenly, eyes staring ahead of her. "They never said he died, always the Exorcist, only the Exorcist. What do you think that means?"

"Memories, probably," the Bookman guessed. "If Road is, like you said, someone who controls dreams and minds, then I'll bet she somehow messed up Allen's mind so that his life ever since he first met General Cross and to the point where he left you that day is altered so that he chooses to work with them. They probably did something like make it seem that the only thing he experienced with us is hell. One Mana after another, things like that. Horror and sadness, anger and regret, but not an ounce of happiness. Anyone would want to get out of it if it was something like _that."_

Lenalee was slightly amazed by the accuracy of Lavi's guesses. She had nothing to argue with his reasonings, for she had felt that way before, a long time ago, before Komui came.

"Lenalee?"

"Let's hurry."

---------------------

He felt Road's head move against his back as she leaned against him. She was gazing behind them, watching the river below them, Lero held loosely in her hands, her tongue flicking idly at her lips. For the first time in a few days, Tyki saw that she wasn't licking on a lollipop or enjoying an ice cream cone: Surprisingly, Allen hadn't spoiled the twit with her favorite sweets.

Not that he could have. The boy wasn't in a normal state now.

"Nngh," as if on cue, Allen groaned. Both Tyki and Road turned to look at the boy, who was sitting against the boat's wooden perimeter, eyes shut tight and panting heavily.

"He's way out of it," Tyki said.

"It's nobody's fault," Road said with a small smile. "Sealing away a heart isn't an easy job, and I couldn't do it completely that time. It's a miracle he's lasted so long without a breakout of germs, and even now, during the attacks, all that he suffers is a bad fever and paralysis."

"Hmm..."

For an odd reason, Tyki felt a flutter in him as he watched the boy. Maybe it was the cheeks flushed with heat or the trembling of his small shoulders, but something about the boy and his so-called 'breakout' caused that fleeting feeling of excitement in him. It wasn't like those pure feelings of protectiveness and love. Maybe it was just the Noah in him going crazy as it watched a correspondent of the Innocence suffer.

"Road," Allen gasped, opening his eyes slightly, giving the girl an exhausted, feverish look. "You should be careful nobody sees you with us. It'll ruin the Earl's scenario."

"You're such a good boy," Tyki replied, shrugging. "The Finders I killed are still in that town as far as they're concerned. They're nameless numbers, nobody would notice if two go missing in action."

"Ha," Allen said, laughing without much humor. He gasped again and began coughing violently, his numbed body jerking with every hacking.

"How long is that going to continue, anyway?" Tyki asked the boy.

"I don't know," Allen wheezed. "I just hope it would end soon."

Allen was, without doubt, a decendant and inheritor of Noah's genes. He was the one who inherited Noah's will stronger than any of his siblings, even more so than Noah's 'Anger', and not only that, but he was the one who should be able to control the will and instinct more than any of the other twelve Noahs.

Despite that, however, Allen was also an existence chosen by another God, by the Innocence, and while he may be battling the Exorcists, there was a constant internal war inside him between the Noah and Innocence. It was considered a miracle that the battle had gone on for so long inside him until now, without any outward signs. According to the Millennium Earl, the Innocence would attempt to drive the Noah out of the body, thus so creating a reaction that immobilized Allen, and the Noah's resistence to the force would show as a fever. Until now, there had never been any outward sign of the struggle. For it to show now...

_Something _must have happened inside the boy.

Allen groaned and pulled the Finder coat tighter around his shaking body, hiding his snow white hair with the hood as he did so. "Shut up," he grumbled to something, slapping himself as he did so. He cursed under his breath and continued to mutter lowly for the next few hours.

"Three more days until we reach their headquarters," Tyki said to himself, remembering what Allen said before he nearly collapsed.

He hoped Allen would stay sane until they got there.

* * *

Lenalee: Hello everyone. First off, the author would like to apologize for taking so long to post this chapter.

Lavi: What she said.

Allen: Yes.

Kanda: Keh.

Lavi: Moving on to questions, we've got two for today. We once again have one from zenbon sakura. Thanks for all your questions!

**Q: **have you ever read or watched the anime/manga called air gear?

Allen: No, she hasn't. She's heard of it and she's seen it from time to time, but she has never actually _read _it.

Lenalee: The second one is from Kaya-chan90.

**Q: **will Jasdebi meet the Exorcists (together with Allen, Ticki and Rhod)?

Kanda: No.

Lavi: Yeah...this story is something that takes place sometime between the vampire castle and China, and Yu is here mostly because he got a call from Komui while traveling with General Tiedoll...right?

Kanda: (nods) Said to go back once things got settled.

Lenalee: I guess it didn't turn out that way.

Allen: I'm sorry...(hangs head)

Lavi/Lenalee: It's not _your _fault!

Kanda: Keh. (leaves)

Lavi: Well, since Allen's into gloom land and Yu's gone off too, I think we should end this.

Lenalee: Yes. I agree. Thank you everyone!

Lavi: See you all again soon...hopefully.


	11. 11th Night

The Apostle

11th Night: Friends of the Bookman

* * *

**Disclaimers**: I do not own any D. Gray-Man characters/settings. They rightfully belong to Mr. Katsura Hoshino.

* * *

In this world, there were two people who were able to make his heart tear this way. 

The first was a Finder who became an Akuma, an Akuma he destroyed.

The second is an Exorcist who is a Noah, a Noah he must kill.

Two comrades that gave in to the darkness of the Millennium Earl. Two friends that were lost.

Both of them had the innocence of a young child: wide eyes, a slightly cherubic face, a naiveness and a trusting heart that sometimes made them put their lives at stake. They both had their heroic beliefs, a caring heart that would turn cold toward any that went against those morals. And both, he realized now, had an irreplaceable place in him that, once empty, let in an icy wind that tugged and ripped at his heart mercilessly.

"You're cruel, both of you," Lavi whispered into the empty street as he followed Lenalee at a slow pace. Glancing downward, he lightly touched the lace ribbon that was always kept safely in his pocket.

_This ribbon...I should return it to Collette soon, to her grave..._

"Leaving me all alone, just to make me break you guys...cruel."

"Lavi, did you say something?" Lenalee asked softly.

"Huh? Oh...no," he said. "Nothing."

The petite girl sent him a small smile before she turned away and resumed walking-

"Hey, Lenalee."

"Yes?" she asked, stopping again.

"What is my eye like to you?" Lavi asked.

"Your eye?" Lenalee repeated quizzically.

"Yeah..." he whispered, walking up to her and looking into her eyes.

_Your eye is like a glass ball...I see myself in it, but it's just a reflection...Your heart doesn't see me at all..._

_"_What does my eye remind you of?"

Lenalee gazed back up him silently for a few seconds, then smiled. "Your eye is shining again," she said. "I was worried. Your eye was like a smoky glass after Allen was gone. I'm glad I can see into it again."

"Lena-"

"Come on, Lavi," she said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "We still have five more streets to go-"

"Lenalee."

"Hm?"

"Do you think I can do this?" he asked. Two young faces flashed before him, smiling, laughing, then crumbling into menace and sadness. "Can I do something like this...again?"

They stood there, in the middle of the street, the wind playing with their black uniforms, the emptiness of the deathly silent town enveloping them. Then, Lenalee said,

"I heard from Brother about that day, when Allen and I were in the 'Rewinding Town'. Dug...wasn't it?"

Lavi nodded wordlessly.

"...Did it hurt?"

He bit his lip tightly, tasting blood.

"It wasn't supposed to," he said grimly. "Bookmen don't need hearts, we're not supposed to let feelings take over us- we're not supposed to feel them or show them. It wasn't supposed to bother me at all! But...I felt it breaking when I destroyed the Akuma Dug made...I thought I saw Collette's soul leave...Later, I found out I was crying."

Lenalee gently took his hand, leading him down the cobblestone, head down, her hair swinging with her steps.

"I won't let anything happen to you," she said simply, and despite that weak reassurance that Lavi heard from her all the time, he felt something heavy leave his shoulders. "When the time comes, you won't be alone."

_Lavi...you finally look me in the eye when you talk to me!_

_Lavi._

Allen and Dug. Fallen. Gone. Lost.

Friends...

Lavi closed his eyes, and the darkness took over, a voice, echoing, began to ask him:

_What are you?_

Lavi didn't have to hesitate to answer correctly.

...I am Bookman-

_What is a Bookman?_

An observer of history, and a recorder. My job is to write and pass down the hidden history of the world-

_How is it that a Bookman must live his life?_

Do not let emotions get to you. Do not allow compassion to move you, and at the same time, do no show any compassion. Exchange words with numerous people, and walk away as if none of it had happened-

_Again, what are you?_

I am Bookman, recorder of the world's history, an observer. Along with this title, I hold the alias of Lavi, and I have broken the way of Bookmen's life. I have a heart, I let my compassion move me and I show my compassion to others. I have people to call comrades and friends, and I will stake my life to save the soul of one of them.

_What is it that you strive to do?_

An unfamiliar question. One he had never been asked before. This time, he had to think before the answer came to him.

I strive to kill Allen, to save his soul, just as I did to Dug.

Right now, I am neither Exorcist or Bookman.

I am-

"Lavi," Lenalee said.

"Hm?" he responded, opening his eyes.

"Do you want to take another look at the streets?" Lenalee asked him. Her hands hung loose at her side; she'd let go of him while he was lost in his thoughts. "I think it might be safer to take another look."

"Yeah...let's go," Lavi nodded and, this time, led the way as he and Lenalee patrolled their portion of the town. "Hey-"

"Yes?"

"I," he said, then cleared his throat. "Don't tell Panda this because he'll say it's not appropriate for a Bookman, but I won't let anything happen to you, either. Not because I have special romantic feelings for you because no, I don't want Komui to chop my head off. It's more or less out of respect for the Allen we know. You're the person he protected, and I will continue in his place."

Lenalee blinked at him, he could feel her staring at the back of his head, but he didn't dare turn around. His pride wouldn't allow it. And then,

"Thanks, Lavi," Lenalee said, and he could hear the smile in her voice.

Feeling a smile creeping up his own face, Lavi waved his hand dismissively. "C'mon," he told her.

----------------

It was quiet.

_Too _quiet.

He could hear birds chirping. Road was snoring softly, softly enough to pass as cute. Lero was probably looking out at nothing, and Allen...

He wasn't making a sound. Just a few seconds ago, he was playing with Tyki's hair...

Where the hell did the boy go and what is he up to _now_?

Tyki lazily opened his eyes, and found another pair staring right back, big with curiosity and shining merrily and mischievously. Cherubic, storm gray eyes...

Allen.

"Wah!" Tyki yelled loudly, almost falling out of the boat. Clutching at his beating heart through the rough fabric of the Finder's coat they'd stolen, he sent the now smiling boy a hard glare. "Don't _do _that, boy!"

Allen's cheeky grin only grew wider as he leaned back, laughing. He looked around. There wasn't anyone around in the underground tunnel, and Allen began playing with his own white hair, tugging and pulling at it, raking his fingers through the strands until it dyed itself a inky black with a bluish shine to it.

Tyki blinked, he would never _ever _get used to the creepy way Allen could change his hair color so easily. He was actually a little bit jealous of it too...

_Anyway._

Back to being mad at the boy...

"Honestly, don't do that," he said to Allen, trying to sound scolding but failing as amusement entered his voice. "It's bad for my heart."

"You can't be _that _old, Tyki," Allen responded.

"And whatever happened to your fever."

"Oh, that? I dunno."

Tyki glanced at the perfectly healthy young boy sitting in front of him. Apart from the slightly flushed skin, there wasn't shadow nor hint that this same boy was, just a few minutes earlier, sitting, slouched forward, sick, with a fever, and paralyzed. His shallow breathing was annoying at one point, but compared to the now _very _annoying and perky and, in a nutshell, troublesome _brat _Allen was making out of himself right now, Tyki had to admit that he prefered the sick and quiet one.

"How long does it take to get to the place?" he asked, changing the course of his thinking. Maybe Allen would get on task...

"One and a half hours," was the immediate answer. "We can probably find a room to hide in, there aren't any Exorcists in there...There aren't many left alive."

"Oh?" Tyki raised an eyebrow. The boy knew everything, did he?

_Such knowledge must be taken as the threatening resurfacing of his memories, _the Millennium Earl told him before_. If anything happens, you will have to kill Allen._

"If we don't count the generals and the Exorcists we've killed, there should only be around five or six of them left," Allen said. "Out of those, we know the location of four of them."

Tyki fell into deep thought, the information swimming in his mind. Having a Noah whose intelligence about the enemy was very useful, he mused at first, and then the Earl's orders came back to him. _Kill Allen once the germs take over..._

It wouldn't be long now, since the symptoms have come out.

"Boy..."

"Tyki," Allen said.

"...Whut?"

"Jasdebi told me before that you usually live with humans, is that true?" Allen asked.

Tyki glanced at the boy, at the interested gleam in his eyes, the small smile on his lips. He wasn't mocking Tyki's lifestyle. He just wanted to know.

"Yeah, I'm a homeless," Tyki answered, pulling a cigarette out of his pocket and biting down on it. He then rummaged around for some matches.

There were none.

"Damn," the man cursed.

"Here-"

A small flame lit itself at the tip of Allen's gloved index finger, but it didn't spread and burn the glove, and Allen didn't look as if he felt any pain. But when the boy reached over and tapped the cigarette with the flame, the paper and grass caught it and Tyki sucked in the smoke.

"You're amazing," he said to Allen, half complimenting him. "Can you do _everything?"_

_"_Not everything," Allen replied, extinguishing the fire. "I can't do much regarding myself. I can fight and produce things, but I can't remember who I really am."

Tyki looked at Allen through the cigarette smoke. "You're still a kid, aren't you?" he muttered. "Just because you don't remember who the hell you used to be, does it really matter when you know, clear as day, who you are right now?"

"Well, no..." the boy mumbled. "But everyone knows about it, except me. The Earl, you and Road, and the Exorcists seemed to know me to. I know what my left arm is, and at this point I can clearly tell that I probably used to be and Exorcist too. But that's all. Who is the other _Allen Walker, _how did I get this scar on my face? Those things that should be important are the only things I can't remember at all."

Tyki said nothing as Allen patted the sleeping Road's head.

"It's strange, being a stranger to yourself when the people around you know exactly who you are," he said. "Tyki, have you felt this way before?"

"No."

Allen suddenly put on a pouty grimace. "You didn't have to be so _blunt, _Tyki!" he whined.

"You're the one who asked!"

"Still, you could have faked a thoughtful moment..."

"Lame."

"You're not nice."

"You're not either."

Allen smiled at him and pulled the off white hood back over his head. Tyki mimicked his actions and hid his face with the veil. The boy nudged Road awake, and the three of them looked up as a shadow loomed over them. Stretching for dozens of miles upward was a rocky cliff, and ahead was a man-made tunnel where the waterway disappeared into.

They've arrived.

"Exciting," Road said, and Allen gently covered her figure with a olive colored blanket lying at the bottom of the boat. It would be trouble if Finders brought back a young girl without any notice...

"We're here," he said to Tyki as the tunnel swallowed him. "This is the headquarters of the Exorcists."

* * *

Lavi: Drum roll please! (big smile) How are you all today? We're back again with- what?- chapter eleven of _The Apostle_! I think we're doing pretty good so far, ne, Allen?

Allen: Yes, I think so. But I can't believe the author is soooooo...(gloom) I don't know if she's worse, better, or on the same level as my Master...

Lavi: Sneaking into headquarters, huh...(is reading the chapter) No Noah has ever done that in the original story, even though an Akuma came in and killed around three or four people. Dug.

Allen: I don't remember that.

Lavi: Of course you won't. You and Lenalee were in the Rewinding City at that time. It was around a week before I first met you, a Finder became an Akuma and evolved into a Level II in a week's time before he snuck in and killed people.

Allen: (eyes wide) What happened afterward?

Lavi: I broke it. Anyway, questions. There's only one, and it's from mangafreak7793.

**Q: **does allen have two personality The exorcist allen ( the kind one) and the noah Allen ( who loves to kill)

Lavi: (glances at Allen) Judging from the look on his face, it's another one of the Allen-is-not-allowed-to-answer questions, but I'd say he does. It's pretty obvious now that he's got two personalities, the Exorcist one and the Noah one, but I don't know the reason behind why the Noah came out _now. _From this chapter, my guess is that the Innocence in the arm might have something to do with it.


	12. 12th Night

The Apostle

12th Night: Old Room

* * *

**Disclaimers**: I do not own any D. Gray-Man characters/settings. They rightfully belong to Mr. Katsura Hoshino.

* * *

"Spare me the confusion, my good man," Tyki grumbled as he followed Allen and Road off of the wooden boats. He cast a nervous look around, and was slightly glad there weren't any humans around. "How are we to walk straight down the hallways _without getting detected_?""I know," Allen shrugged, taking his hood off (which made Tyki stare at the young boy in bewilderment). "I completely forgot, but I could just walk around hoping nobody would see us...and we won't run into anybody." 

"You abuse the use of your powers, boy," Tyki scolded him halfheartedly. However, he had to admit that it was very useful...

"I know, but it makes my life so much simpler," Allen chuckled, walking ahead, following a path only he seemed to remember. "I wonder where this takes us."

"You don't know?" Road piped up.

"It takes us somewhere unused, but how in the world am I supposed to remember, I do not know," Allen said. "But the corridors- despite the fact that they all seem to look the same- look a bit...familiar, should I say."  
_  
Probably leads to your old room, you dimwit,_ Tyki said to himself. "Then what?"

"We...wait," Allen answered rather dumbly. Leave it to the brat to come without a plan. What went on in his mind anyway? Who was he?

The greatest of the Noah.

The youngest Child- Sheep- Apostle- whatever else they were called...

The boy with the 'other power'.

The boy with the scar.

The boy who would plan a way to infiltrate, then, once inside, draw a blank map.

A young man.

A little kid.

Tyki felt a migraine coming along.

"Let's just go in here," Allen said. He opened a door to walk into a room, small in comparison to the corridors wide enough for a carriage to drive through.

The room, in one word, was creepy.

Never mind the wall decorations and the objects sitting on the floors (although those were very grotesque and strange as well), but the thick dust that covered every nook and cranny of the room gave it a feeling of abandonment- and knowing the kind of place this building happened to be, who would be surprised if a ghoul suddenly jumped out of that trunk over there- is that a hand sticking out of under that lid?

"It's a bedroom," Road pointed out, nodding toward a small cot in the corner. It was covered in a white sheet, with no wrinkle. Although it had been obvious from the start, this room hadn't been stepped into for a long time.

There were (molding) plates and empty bags filled with crumbs on the floor, however. So the room had been in use, but its occupant had been absent for a while. Judging from the thickness of the dust, Tyki guessed that it would have been a few months after somebody had last visited here.

A few months...

The food...

Allen's approaching the room as if on instinct, finding familiarity in the corridors leading to here...

There was no doubt in Tyki's mind.

This was Allen's old bedroom.

"So we're hiding out in here?" Road asked, a look of slight disturbance on her pretty face. "It's _unsanitary_."

"I know, Road, I know, but this is the only place I can think of," Allen sighed, looking around. Suddenly, the dirty plates and the garbage disappeared off the floor, followed by the thick carpeting of dust. He glanced at the small cot, which transformed into a little bit more of a comfortable looking bed, which Road happily scampered over and jumped on.

"How's your opinion now?" Allen asked, and was responded to by Road's happy laughter. "Hm...I'd better get going around now."

"Where to?" Tyki said. The Millennium Earl's voice was now screaming in his ears.

"Look around, it won't be hard, it's easy for me to blend in with the crowd-" Allen shrugged, then slipped out of the room.

The corridor outside, as he'd expected, was empty. Nobody would find him- not while he wasn't wanting to be found.

Allen took a deep breath and let it out.

In his mind, he went over his so-called life.

_Allen Walker, the Noah of Desire_, he thought with a slight grimace. _Around fifteen in human years, with white hair and gray eyes and a scar through the left eye.  
_  
No recollection, whatsoever, of his life before he met the Millennium Earl. Nothing, except for voices.

A screaming boy, calling an incoherent name. A crying girl, hurt and sad, calling out another name.

Who were they, he wondered sometimes. Who was Allen Walker?

_Heh_.

As if it mattered.

It sometimes seemed as if loved making himself the main character of a tragic story. No blood relatives, no memories, no friends, no purpose, no goal, just a seemingly endless journey called a life that lead to God knew what.

God.

Who is God in the first place?

"What would you like, hun?" a voice asked.

Allen glanced up in alarm, desperately wondering how he could have let his guard slip, allowing someone to walk into the vicinity...when he noticed that he was standing in the middle of a large room where several people were sitting at tables, eating.

His stomach rumbled slightly.

Oh, so he was hungry.

But how in the world did he know where to go?

The large man (woman?) standing behind a counter was looking at him expectantly, humming under his breath.

"Pardon me?" Allen asked him.

"What would you like to eat, hun?" the man repeated his question.

"Oh..um, it's all right. I'm sorry, I was just wandering," Allen said, taking a step backward with a dismissive wave of his hand. He smiled apologetically and left the dining hall. As he left, he thought he heard the man talking about something- someone.

"That boy certainly looks like Dug, doesn't he?" the man's voice rang.

"Really?" another voice asked with a shrug in his voice. "I'd say he looks more like Sir Allen. Without the hair."

Allen glanced back at the room once he was at the end of the hallway. Letting out a sigh, he muttered to himself. "I'd better be more careful. Who knows what Jasdebi will say?"

---------------------

"What the _hell_?"

The exclamation screeched into everyone's ears, effectively freezing them in their steps as their brains rattled.

"...Yu?" Lavi asked tentatively as he and Lenalee massaged their damaged appendages.

"Could you repeat that?" Lenalee said worriedly to the cause of Kanda's explosion.

"Dead bodies," Panda's grim voice replied through the Bookman's buzzing golem. "Two of them. Toma, I would say you recognize them?"

"Yes," the Finder answered. "I have seen them around several times. They are Finders who were investigating this town for the past few weeks."

"Where are you?" Kanda asked roughly.

Toma answered.

Their ears still peeled for the rest of the conversation, Lavi and Lenalee immediately made a dash to the location.

"Judging form the place they were found," Panda continued, "they must have been on their way back to headquarters. There is a waterway right beneath us."

"They were ambushed?" Lavi said.

"Caught off guard, maybe," Panda answered. "I do not see any wounds on their being, but they are dead. But there is blood. I'd say they were killed by internal wounds."

"Akuma aren't made to kill people like that, and I don't know about any technologies that allow humans to kill others without poison or some kind of outward symptoms," Lavi muttered. "Noah?"

"Most likely. Hurry up, young ones, we will immediately have to head for headquarters."

"Why?" Lenalee asked in alarm.

"Their coats are gone. If there is any place they have to wear coats to, it is to infiltrate into the place the waterway will lead them to. And that is where our headquarters is."

Lenalee's eyes widened, and she sped up her running. Lavi, although surprised by her quick recovery and control of her own legs, accelerated as well to keep up, but his mind was already full of thoughts.

Thoughts about Allen. Thoughts about the Earl. Thoughts about himself, and Dug, and the infiltration.

What would he do if Allen ends up killing people in the Order? Obviously, he would have to kill the boy.

Could he, though? Could he bring himself to kill the boy whom he considered one of his best friends?

The evil smile on Allen's face as he fought Kanda was still vivid in his mind.

He really was the enemy now. It shouldn't bother Lavi at all, for he was merely an observer. He should be able to kill Allen without hesitation, and he was supposed to be prepared to betray the Order if need be.

He should have been able to do that.

"Shit," he growled.

"Lavi?"

"Nothing. Let's hurry, grab my shoulder. Big hammer little hammer...Extend!"

Lenalee's hands had always been small, but feeling them gripping his shirt as they zipped through the air, Lavi thought that Lenalee might have shrank. Her fingers felt weak and fragile, always trembling slightly from fear and sadness.

_She's a sixteen year old girl, _Lavi cursed bitterly. _This is nowhere that she belongs. She should be somewhere in China with Komui, beautiful, beloved...not fighting with dead people all over the world, fearing for everyone and being sad about Allen..because..._

_Allen is a betrayer of God._

"Lavi?" Lenalee's voice said.

"Hm?"

"Will...will everything turn out OK in the end?"

_Most likely not.  
_

But there wasn't enough cruelty in him to crush hers, or his own, hopes.

He didn't answer to her question. Instead, he slowed down the speed of extension, seeing the short figure of his precedent gazing up at them from the ground.

"Geezer, what's the news?" he asked.

"Where's Kanda?" Lenalee added.

"He's already down by the boat," Panda replied, turning on his heels and leading the two down stone steps. "We must hurry, before anything happens."

The waterway always led straight to headquarters. That was a given, and if anyone figured it out, anyone could easily get there without much troubles. But how to figure that out is a difficult question. The only way to find out would either be to follow every waterway to its source, or if there was previous knowledge about it from the start.

"That idiot," Kanda growled as he appeared in the dim light of the underground tunnel. He was sitting in the boat with Toma, an angry glare more intense than any they'd seen before on his face as he silently told them to hurry up. "I'm going to slice him to _bits..."_

_"_Oh, please," Lavi scoffed.

"It will take, at the least, three days," Panda said. Toma nodded his confirmation as he pushed on the shore with the oar, the boat rocking for a moment before it started to flow down the canal. "Rest up until then. Is it likely that we will be engaged in a long, harsh battle once we arrive."

"I'm so glad Kuro-chan's there," Lavi sighed in relief. "He won't be able to detect any of the Noah, but if they brought Akuma with them, then we'd at least have someone who can stand up to them."

"But it's still only one," Kanda grumbled. "That new woman is still in training-"

"She's lost," Lenalee corrected. "I think...she's somewhere in Russia, isn't she?"

"That's not helping then, damn it all!" Kanda suddenly snapped, nearly turning over the boat.

"Gah! Yu, calm down!" Lavi exclaimed. "You need sleep- you're so cranky right now! C'mon, just because Allen is stronger than you-"

"Shut. The. Hell. Up. Bunny boy."

"Both of you, be quiet," Panda said quietly and effectively, silencing the two youths immediately.

* * *

Lavi: I...can't..._believe it._

Kanda: What? That it took this long for the author to update? Che.

Lavi: No...we're _job less_!!! There weren't any questions for chapter 11...and I was hoping there would be because it had a lot about me in it. (sob)

Kanda: ... ...You are so _pathetic_.


	13. 13th Night

The Apostle

13th Night: At+tack

* * *

**Disclaimers**: I do not own any D. Gray-Man characters/settings. They rightfully belong to Mr. Katsura Hoshino.

* * *

"How do you think of things here, newbie?" a large man asked Allen when the boy was sitting in the corner of the dining room. 

Allen glanced lazily at the man and shrugged. "It's nice," he said, and left for his room. He idly wondered if he would ever see this man again, and if he would, when? When he killed the man, or maybe before that?

He didn't know, but he remembered his answer to the man's question.

It was certainly nice.

Getting inside the enemy's headquarters was easier than it was supposed to be. There wasn't as many guards, and all Exorcists were out on missions, give or take a couple (one of which was still in training). Finders would be an easy kill anyway, and if there were any commanding people here...well, one less of them would assure the Earl's good mood.

Allen had learned to converse with people inside the Black Order. Which was good on his part because he couldn't live forever, wishing nobody would find him and his siblings. Although, since Tyki and Road didn't like leaving the room they were hiding in, he was usually the only one who came in contact with the outside society. As he'd expected, nobody recognized him. Nobody really knew his name, either. He didn't have a fake name, he didn't give his real name, nobody asked for it. He was newbie, and that was it.

And that was OK.

Things _were _going very well indeed. Maybe except...

_Groooooooowwwwwlllll..._

"Allen, the whole castle _will _hear you if you don't do something about that insane gluttony of yours," Tyki sighed for the umpteenth time.

"But nobody here will eat as much as me," Allen said with a pout. "If I eat as much as I usually do, it will surely cause unwanted attention and the whole plan is ruined."

"Still, your stomach is louder than an elephant," Tyki muttered. "You _have _to do something about that arm of yours."

"Like cut it off? You know that didn't work the last time," Allen said.

"...You say it as if the Earl was only trying to fit into your coat or something," Road commented.

"Well, I probably wouldn't have died even if I'd lost the arm, so there really isn't much to fret about, is there?"

"I guess not," Tyki said, "but surely there has to be some way to keep it quiet."

"There isn't, unless I eat the average amount-"

"You eat enough for ten in one meal, and you still have three meals a day, sometimes even four! There is no way you will be able to eat your _average amount _without drawing attention to us."

"That's what I was saying."

"So?"

"So I can't keep my stomach quiet. Gosh, Tyki, you just came around full circle."

"...My head hurts."

Road laughed heartily.

"Any messages from the Earl yet?" Allen asked, sitting down on the bed beside her.

"Right here," she answered, holding up a bat like object in her hands. The object stared at the two men for a few seconds before a buzzing sound reached their ears.

"_The Earl says to begin attacking," _the bat said in a mechanic voice. "_Time's come to bring an end to the world."_

"Any Akuma to help us?" Tyki asked boredly.

_"Nada. He says to take care of it on your own."_

"Time limit?"

"_None."_

"Thanks," Allen said to the bat golem, who immediately turned and flew out of an open window. "Time's come now, huh..."

A strange melancholy settled somewhere near his navel, weighing him down. By now, it was obvious to him that his so-called _other self _was a member of the Order here, an Exorcist. His left arm was more than enough proof for that, but why would he feel sadness right now?

They had nothing to do with him, because he didn't have any memories of the past. He only cares about the Earl's scenario, the end of the world, the death of the Innocence.

_No...don't..._

He didn't care. He would kill them all, one by one, draining the blood, seeing the fear, just like he'd done to that beautiful family in the mansion.

_Don't kill..._

The annoying voice can't stop him, no matter who it was. Allen sometimes felt that the Earl may be using them Noah for his plans, but he'd never thought on it much. Killing, destroying, breaking...

He enjoyed it.

_Can't kill them...Don't-_

"Let's go," he said to Tyki and Road, and the three Noah silently slipped out of the room.

The voice continued to scream in his mind. His own voice in his own head, crying in pain and fear, cursing him and damning him in a slightly mad voice.

_STOP! DON'T KILL!_

But Allen Walker didn't listen to it. He was a Noah, and he had a mission. His mission was to kill them, the Millennium Earl's enemies.

----------------------

Something was wrong.

There was something inside the building, something he didn't know about.

Komui scratched his head, shook it, trying to get rid of his paranoia. His bad feelings rarely turned out correct. If he thought too hard about it, it would be his ruin. Being in a war did his mind no good, and it would be normal to think something was up, especially after that Finder who turned himself into an Akuma..

"Damn, the thought's been leeching out my sanity for too long," he grumbled angrily, attempting for the umpteenth time to concentrate on the work at hand. He certainly wished he could go back to the days where he could focus on both Innocence research _and _his beloved Komurins, but the darn adorable robot would by now be sitting in its dark corner, molding and rusting from lack of attention. It was much more motivating when Allen was there to freak and psych about it, screaming bloody murder as he remembered the second edition of Komurin, who'd almost killed him.

But alas, although Allen was alive, he was no longer the boy who laughed and smiled and lit up every day in this gloomy building.

"Supervisor!"

Reever's ever energetic voice rang in Komui's ears, and the Chinese man looked up from his work in question as a brown haired man trudged through the pile of papers on the floor. "What is it, Captain Reever?"

"Hevlaska asked me to inform you," Reever informed him with a strange look in his eyes. "The presence of an Innocence was felt somewhere in the Order. A stray one."

"A stray Innocence?" Komui repeated in question. "What do you mean?"

"It's not supposed to be here," Reever answered. "Well, it used to be here, but it shouldn't be anymore. Hevlaska said it feels similar to Allen's Innocence. It can't be, though, can it, Supervisor?

"I mean...Allen is...he can't be _here, _when he's apparently on the other side-"

"Can Hevlaska sense where it is in the building?" Komui interrupted.

"It's moving around, headed here-"

The phone on Komui's desk rang a shrill scream.

"Hello?"

"K-Ko..mui! Is that...you?"

A voice filled with static wheezed out from the reciever. It was hard to catch the words, but Komui would never forget the voice of his comrade.

"Lavi," he said, "what is it?"

"You...got to...run, all...you," Lavi said seriously. "Sound here...bad. Underground..Toma's phone is old...can you hear...me?"

"I can understand you, what do you mean by run away?"

"No...ah," Lavi said. "The enemy...is there. The Noah...infiltrated into the Order. Watch...out...!"

"_Noah?" _Komui gasped, jumping out of his chair and knocking over his mug of coffee. By the door, the blood drained from Reever's face as the man dashed as fast as he could toward the desk through the sea of documents. "Are you sure, Lavi? Are you sure there are Noah in here?"

"Posi...tive. We found two dead Finders by..the waterway...and their coats...are gone.." Lavi said. "We'll arrive soon."

"Lavi, if Allen is one of the Noah-"

Komui heard a scoff and a snort, then Lavi sniffed. When the youth spoke, his voice was cracking, and it wasn't because of the bad sound.

"Don't worry...I'll be the one to kill him...Can't let him live, can I? He's...a Noah after all."

"If there was a way we could just get him back," Komui muttered.

Lavi was silent for a moment. "Yeah, if only, right?" the Bookman said at last. Komui, hearing him, gave an inappropriate grin.

"You know, Lavi? This sounds very strange, but I'm happy that you're crying again," he said.

"The hell?" Lavi laughed. "No duh, that sounds like the most insane thing I've heard you say. Ever. Why does my sniveling make you _happy?"_

"Oh, we all knew Allen was the only one who could trigger your feelings so much," Komui chuckled, even as a faint sound of something explosion reached his and Reever's ears. That could only mean one thing. "Hey, Lavi, I think it's started now. You're right. They're here."

Lavi cursed on the other end. Komui frowned. Lavi and Kanda were actually one of the two most foul mouthed people in the Order. He would most certainly murder them if Lenalee came home talking like them!

"Komui, we'll be there as soon as we can, so make sure you don't die, OK?" Lavi was speaking fast. "Lenalee would be alone if you die."

"Thanks for caring," Komui said, and he thought he heard Lavi sigh in impatience. "Don't worry Lavi, we have Krory and Miranda here with us. Just make sure you keep your promise. Don't get ambushed."

"You want to talk to Lenalee?"

"You're not serious. I need the time to run for my life, no?"

"Oh, right."

"I'll be seeing you, all of you."

"Yeah, later."

It was at that moment that Toma's used phone died on them. Komui stood there for the longest moment, listening to the beeping dial tone, until Reever roughly grabbed his arm.

"Supervisor! We're under attack! Hurry now!"

"Where's Krory? Miranda?"

"Miranda has already left, we saw her with some Finders, doing her best," a tall man said as he stumbled into the office. His dark cloak was singed and slightly burnt from the already large chaos outside the room. "We have to hurry, Komui," Arystar Krory said.

"Where are the others?" Reever asked.

"Sixty-five has sent everyone down, to a hidden room in the basements," Krory answered quickly. "We have to go, Komui."

"Yes-"

Suddenly, the door of the office exploded with a loud _bang! _and several bodies flew inside, clearly dead.

"Can't go that way!" Reever gasped, but by that time, Krory had already grabbed him and Komui by their coats and crashed through a window. As they jumped into the cold air, seemingly in slow motion, Komui stared at the burning building he called his home.

Will this be their end?

* * *

Lavi: This certainly was kind of short, no? 

Kanda: I would call it lack of motivation.

Allen: Like you?

Kanda: _**AH???**_

Lavi: Eeps, you two, don't start fighting. See? We've got two questions this time! (smile smile) First is from flower miko, and it is her request that Yu answers it!

Kanda: Huh?

**Q:** Is Kanda efected by the idea of Allen beeng stronger then him?

Allen: (smug look)

Kanda: (dark look with gloomy anger radiating around him)

Lavi: I sense murder in the air. Now now Yu, make sure you don't kill our loyal reader.

Kanda: Why would she care if I was? (mad mad mad mad mad)

Allen: So you _are _affected? Wow...

Kanda: SHUT UP, MOYASHI!

Lavi: (sigh) I can't tell if he is, but he probably is, and we will be moving along now...This one, from Kaiamara, is a rather good question. Yay.

**Q: **what are the germs that would attack Allen?

Lavi: Yeah, what?

Allen: Innocence.

Kanda: Heh, straight answer for once?

Allen: Well, I heard it's going to be explained in more detail, maybe...but I was given permission to unveil it here just in case it never happens. In the manga, volume 12, this happened to Jasdebi when they were fighting Krory. It's because I'm a Noah and I constantly have the Innocence in my body, it's like an ever present virus in my cells. Tumor, maybe?

Lavi: Makes sense.

Allen: I think it also has something to do with Mana and me being inside myself, as confusing as that is. Like that voice in the Noah me's head too...

Allen/Lavi/Kanda: (continues discussing possibilities)


	14. 14th Night

The Apostle

14th Night: Homecoming

* * *

**Disclaimers**: I do not own any D. Gray-Man characters/settings. They rightfully belong to Mr. Katsura Hoshino.

* * *

They arrived at headquarters five minutes earlier than they expected, mostly thanks to Lavi's Innocence creating a faster flow in the waters. However, none of them could honestly say they were glad to arrive, nor could they say that they came back for nothing. The building, once tall and elegant and dark, was now a bit shorter than before, ugly, and illuminated by the orange glow of fire. Somewhere in the wall, there was a large hole where the stone had exploded away, and they could see shadows of injured, terrified people, and other lumps where cold bodies lay dead to the world.

Lenalee stared in horror at the large hole. She knew where it was. It was her brother's office.

"Brother!" she screamed. If Lavi wasn't holding her back with all his strength, she might have ran up there without thinking. To save her brother.

He was always there for her.

He might be dead.

Her brother.

She couldn't live without knowing he was OK...

"Let me go, Lavi, please!" she cried, not bothering to wipe the tears streaming down her cheeks. "Please, I have to help Brother!"

"Supervisor is all right," Panda said calmly, a communication golem in his hand. "I just received a call from Arystar Krory; he is with Komui and Reever."

"Who could have done this, though?" Lavi said in shock. "Who would try to destroy headquarters like this? I mean...wouldn't it be easier to just...kill people?"

_Like Dug did when he became an Akuma...killing, killing, and more killing...blood everywhere..._

"Snap out of it, idiot," Kanda barked at Lavi, unsheathing Mugen and stepping over some of the dusty debris towards Home. For some reason, he was looking up at the sky.."There's only one person who could blab about where headquarters is, and there is only one group of people who would even have a reason to try destroying it!"

"Are you saying that it was _Allen_ that did this?" Lavi demanded, anger suddenly rising and boiling in his stomach as he sent Kanda a heated glare. How could this stubborn guy be so cruel and mistrusting?

"Look up, Lavi," Panda commanded, nodding up to the hole. "Guessing and blaming someone is not a part of Kanda's ways. The guilty party is up there."

With dread weighing down like gravity upon their shoulders, and the sinking feeling of their stomach refusing to leave them, their hearts beating like drums, Lavi and Lenalee slowly looked up.

Lenalee screamed.

_It is him_. The words rang loudly in Lavi's ears. The man with the messy hair, the young girl in the frilly outfit, the umbrella twit, and the white haired boy in the hooded coat.

The breaker of his heart, the boy who accepted the Earl's darkness. The boy with the scar, the boy who used to be an Exorcist.

_ My friend_, Lavi thought. _Allen, the guy I have to kill ._

"Hmph," the tallest Noah called down from above. Even though it didn't seem that he was talking loudly at all, they could hear his voice clearly as if he was standing right beside them. "I thought we'd have a little bit more time before you arrived. "

"But it's more fun, isn't it, Tyki?" the girl, Road, asked in a chipper voice. "There aren't any Exorcists in here, and everything breaks so easily. People died so easily."

"How could you?" Lenalee said weakly. "You killed them, my family. Allen...why?"

He probably didn't hear her, but all three Noahs suddenly jumped down and landed on the ground thirty feet away from them, kneeling down with their heads bowed.

Was somebody coming?

"Heh," Kanda half snorted, raising his sword. "Don't show your throats to the enemy, fools. I take every chance I get to kill my enemies-!" With those words, the samurai jumped to attack the Noahs.

"Freeze," Allen's cold voice commanded, and Kanda fell to the boy's powers again, his body ceasing to move the moment the word left Allen's mouth. He collapsed on the ground and glared at the Noahs as his body seemed to glue itself to the ground, as if gravity was too much for him... "Show some respect, please, Exorcist. The Thousand-Year Duke himself has decided to honor you with his presense-"

"Honor me, my ass!" Kanda growled. If the circumstances were any different, Lavi might have found this even a bit funny, hearing the words come from someone like Kanda.

"Oh, misbehaving, are we now?" a voice said, and the chubby, round Millennium Earl lightly hopped down to Earth from the shadows, stepping out of thin air and standing right beside Allen. The fat man took one look at headquarter's miserable state and his already wide smile widened even more. "My, you have done a wonderful job, my children!" he exclaimed, patting Allen's head benignly.

"Don't touch him!" Lavi yelled without thinking

"But he's _family_," Road sang, standing up and hugging Allen's shoulders. Kissing his cheek, she smiled. "Families love each other, don't they? You can't tell them not to touch each other."

Allen didn't say a word, but he silently put an arm around Road and stood up, holding the girl close as he slipped a knife out of his pocket. Was he going to attack Kanda?

"Move back," he said, and waved his free hand. With a yell, Kanda was pulled into the air by an invisible hand and flung backward, crashing painfully at Lavi's feet.

"I have an order for you," the Earl said to the Noah. He was completely ignoring the Exorcists, but they could all feel the giddy murderous intent radiating from the man. "You must kill them all."

"Yes," Allen said. Tyki and Road nodded. The boy let the girl down and took a step toward them .

"Lenalee, get behind me," Lavi said, but Lenalee wouldn't move. "Lenalee, I'll fight. Lenalee!"

"Allen!" the girl called out. "Allen, don't you remember us? ALLEN!"

"Heh," Tyki scoffed, "he won't remember you, princess. He's not the Allen Walker you guys know."

Kanda struggled up to his feet and said, "Did you erase his memories?"

"You kidding? No Noah has to ability to erase the past."

"They why doesn't Allen have any recollection of who we are?" Lavi demanded, pulling Lenalee behind him and shielding her with his arm. Road giggled.

The Millennium Earl turned to the Exorcists and said to them. "The Allen who was an Exorcist is dead. The one you see now it the Noah inside Allen, the Noah of Desire. He's been asleep inside Allen for ever since he was born, but he didn't come out until now because of the Innocence. Or, it's more appropriate to say, because of Allen's other heart."

"Other...heart?" Lenalee repeated.

"Allen Walker was speaaaaaacial!" Road sang happily, swinging Lero around in an arc.

Tyki shook his head. "Apparently, he's a kid born with two consciences because of the two Gods who chose him. The Innocence suppressed the Noah, so he's been the naive idiot he was until Christmas Eve," he said with a shrug. "It was all the Earl's idea and Road's work. She trapped him inside her dream world, showing him altered versions of his past and destroying his old heart and pulling out the Noah. I seriously don't know where his old heart went, but the new one took over and it's got no recollection whatsoever about his life before he woke up. The only thing he has in him is the Memory of Noah, which is the strong hate and the urge to kill the Innocence that we all have."

Lavi raised an eyebrow. "You mean to say he has a split personality?"

"To put simply, yes, in a way."

Lenalee shook her head violently, tears spraying everywhere. "Allen!" she screamed. "Allen, come back! You...you said...didn't you say you had to continue forward no matter what? To destroy the Akuma-oh!"

Allen was beside Lavi in a flash, his knife pointed at Lavi's throat, a hand keeping Mugen away from his own body, for Kanda had reacted quickly to the boy's attack. The gray eyes gazed darkly into Lenalee's...something shone for a moment inside the depths...

"My other self, huh," he said in a low voice, and there was a hint of sadness in it when he spoke. "Everyone says that about me. My other self, the Exorcist Allen, the old heart, old, other...unceasing comparisons to someone I don't remember.

"At first, I was curious. I wanted to know who I was, who I used to be. But now, I really don't care. I'm a Noah, and I exist to kill you Exorcists. Good night," he smiled. "Show me another masterpiece, pretty Exorcist-"

"CUT THE CRAP ALREADY!" Kanda yelled angrily, ripping his sword out of Allen's grip and cutting the boy's arm as it raised to kill Lenalee. Allen jumped back like a threatened cat, clutching his wounded arm and hissing in pain.

Kanda was livid as he advanced on the younger boy, every step taken with a purpose, hate and disgust burning in his usually cold eyes. "I always thought you'd be troublesome, and I was right!" he spat. "You're nothing but a pain in the ass and an eyesore! I'm going to turn you into mince!! "

Allen blinked, then a smirk crossed his face as he straightened his back and faced Kanda. "Turn me into mince?" he laughed. "That is a bad joke, Mr. Exorcist."

_Nobody can kill me._

"The only thing that hasn't changed about you is how annoying you are!" Kanda snapped and attempted to cut Allen again, but was dodged.

"Kanda! No!" Lenalee cried.

_I am the strongest Noah...I inherited his genes, his Memory, more deeply than any other..._

"Yu! Allen!" Lavi shouted .

_I won't be killed by the likes of you._

"Your attempts are in vain," Allen said as he blocked and dodged every one of Kanda's slices and swipes. "You are far too slow."

"Shut up," Kanda growled, ducking to avoid the knife Allen swung in an arc.

"Oooh, Lenalee!" Road called cheerfully and jumped down. "Let's play!"

"Oh no, you don't-"

"Your opponent's me, Patch-Eye," Tyki cut in, and the four disappeared from sight as they, too, began to battle each other. The old man was nowhere to be seen.

_Oh well_, Allen thought, turning his attention back to Kanda. The samurai Exorcist was giving him the most angered look he'd ever seen. From the rumors he heard while infiltrating the Black Order, Yu Kanda and Allen Walker were archenemies and hated each other, picking fights every other time they met. So why was this man so interested in kill him? Mission An excuse to kill him? Or...

"Did you...care about the Exorcist Allen?" he asked.

"Why would you care if I did?" was Kanda's rough reply as blades clashed again and again. In the distance, Allen could hear the faint calls of his name from the girl and the Bookman. Something about it made his heart beat faster, something to sting..

"I guess I don't," he said to Kanda, ignoring the feelings, "because you're going to die now." And before the man could react, Allen ducked under the Innocence weapon and slammed Kanda into the stone wall of his so-called Home, stabbing the blade deep into his skin. Kanda coughed up blood, panting and heaving in pain, but his hating eyes never faltered.

Allen's surprise didn't have time to register before Kanda let out a loud yell and pushed them both away from the stone.

"Why do you try so much?" Allen asked, using a back flip to quickly leave Kanda's immediate attacking distance. "This world is a tainted place. It should be destroyed, brought to Death by the Earl. Why do you try to stop his noble goals? It's pitiful, watching you do so much for this world."

"Oh yeah?" Kanda smirked, pulling the knife out of his shoulder and advancing once again. "I once knew a stupid shrimp like you who always rambled about destroying Akuma and saving the world. I thought you were the naive kind who never went back on his words."

"It still hasn't changed," Allen smiled.

Kanda's look hardened, and his blade moved faster. He was going to try to kill him now. He was serious.

_Vain attempts..._

"The first mission you were on, it was with me," Kanda said with every swipe. "Us Exorcists may be fighting for this world, but as a single person, you said that your heart moves more for the petty things under your nose other than the vast world we're trying to save! Now that I think on it, maybe you were right for once because it's something I can agree with! "

"Oh?" Allen said. It was an interesting story, he had to admit.

"You could have a billion consciences, but if there's one thing that never changes, it's your naivete! You're like a little brat, and your way of thinking hasn't changed at all! So why," Kanda continued, "won't you admit that your stupid heart is dying and longing for those other idiots who've been screaming and calling and bleeding out your freaking, _God damned_ name?" He was yelling now.

I've never seen him looking so close to tears, a curious voice said in Allen's mind.

_Who...?_

"Ch!" Kanda clucked his tongue impatiently. "Answer me! MOYASHI!"

That name.

Something inside Allen clicked, cracked, and broke. Something fell apart like a broken mirror.

Allen faltered, hesitated. He couldn't dodge.

Kanda's Mugen made a dull thud as he stabbed Allen, the bloody blade cutting through the young boy's body smoothly with a burning feeling as Kanda's frustration, anger, hate, and love spilled out of it like lava from a volcano. Something rose up Allen's throat, and he coughed up a large amount of blood as he spoke in a cracking voice.

"Kan...da..." the Exorcist, Allen Walker, whispered.

* * *

Lavi: Oh, my _God! _Yu, you killed him!! (jaw hits the ground)

Kanda: ...Che.

Lavi: That's all you can say? (voice is squeaky) You..you..._stabbed _him! Right through, like- _slash!_

Kanda: ...(mutter mutter)...Can we just get going so the author can get writing on the next chapter? Then you'll find out what the hell just happened.

Lavi: Oh...right. (sniff) From mangafreak7793, we have this question:

**Q: **wouldn't by now Komui ar even the earl made a special pill that will make Allen full or mute the growling of his stomach

Lavi: Well, no. It never appeared in the manga, and besides, if Allen's stomach didn't growl twenty-four/seven, he wouldn't be our Allen, would he now? He's cute that way, always hungry.

Kanda: Glutton...

Lavi: Number two, from Jemnezby.

**Q: **Ne how many more chapters do you think there are going to be?

Kanda: After this one, most likely one or two. Depends on whether the author wants one long chapter or one possibly long chapter with another one after that. Depends.

Lavi: Yeah.


	15. 15th Night

The Apostle

15th Night: The Cursed Boy

* * *

**Disclaimers**: I do not own any D. Gray-Man characters/settings. They rightfully belong to Mr. Katsura Hoshino.

* * *

_"Oh dear," the Millennium Earl said in mild surprise, staring at the scene before him. Tyki and Road and the other two Exorcists had also stopped in their movements, their eyes glued to the two that were standing by the building. The fire was still burning overhead, and an eerie full moon shone golden in the deep blue sky. The sky was never black, the Earl thought, but soon, he would dye it a bloody red..._

_But now, he should concentrate on the matter at hand. It isn't every day the most strongest Noah of all gets stabbed by an Innocence, and that isn't good. No, not at all, especially not when the Noah himself has an Innocence inside him.._

_One of the Exorcists, a pretty girl, screamed. "Allen!" Her voice broke the Bookman boy out of his trance as well, because he immediately knocked Tyki away from him and tried to run over._

_"Tyki, stop him," the Earl ordered, and it wasn't long before the man had the youth blasted away from Allen and the sword wielder._

_"Duke," Road called from her deadlock with the girl Exorcist. "What's going to happen now?" There was a hint of fear in her voice._

_The Duke didn't know, but he continued to smile and watch._

"Kan...da..?" the white haired boy gasped weakly, blood trickling down his chin like a small stream of crimson. The coppery smell was strong in Kanda's nostrils, and he felt like gagging, backing away, but his body was frozen, his feet rooted to the ground, his muscles frozen. He could only stare into those stormy gray eyes as they struggled to focus on him. Every once in a while he managed to move his gaze away before getting sucked into the eyes again. Every time, he painfully saw the flaw in the boy's face: the missing scar.

If Allen minded the constant eye contact, he didn't show it. "What are you...what am I...Why..." he stammered.

_Great_, Kanda thought irritably, despite the situation. _Just great. The damn Moyashi's forgotten how to talk._

"What is it?" he asked gruffly.

Allen coughed, blood splattering Kanda's already filthy pants and shoes. The samurai couldn't care less about it, the bright red captivating him, haunting him. All this spilled blood, human blood, because of his sword. He'd stabbed Allen Walker, and Allen Walker has lost so much blood...

Allen Walker as he knew him was back, but Kanda knew that the boy's renewed existence was still as weak as a shadow on a cloudy day. He could see emotions flickering on the cherubic face: confusion, hate, innocence, malice, boy, Noah, boy, Noah...

Boy...

Noah...

Kanda lost track.

"Get away from me," Allen whispered, and his voice was so soft, Kanda couldn't tell which one it was. "Kanda, get away, I don't know if I can suppress him any longer...please."

It was the Exorcist, all right. The naivety of him was unbearably familiar. In that moment, Kanda, although he would never ever admit it, realized that he had so terribly missed that soft voice.

"Che," he said, pulling Mugen out of the boy's abdomen, making Allen let out a strangled cry of pain. "Don't order me around, double-crosser," he glared, but took a step back anyway.

He didn't miss the hurt look that flashed across Allen's face, but it was soon plastered over with a badly made facade as the boy began walking, slowly, step by step, toward the Millennium Earl. He glanced back, and when he met Kanda's gaze, a weak smile curled his lips.

"I'm sorry," he whispered.

Out of the corners of his eyes, Kanda could see that Lenalee and Lavi were both in a deadlock with their opponent Noahs. Funny, Lenalee had her Innocence activated, and she didn't seem to have anything more than a few scratches- had she gotten stronger?

She and Lavi both had the most stricken looks Kanda ever saw.

"What are you _doing_, Allen?" Lavi yelled, and the samurai whipped around immediately to follow the Bookman's gaze..

_Shit._

"Oh my, so you've awakened, haven't you?" the Millennium Earl asked Allen, who was running at him with his left arm raised above his head. "You've activated your Innocence- what happened to my dear little Noah boy?"

"I do not know, Earl," Kanda heard Allen say before he struck down and disappeared, along with the Thousand-Year-Duke, in a greenish white flash of light. When it cleared, there was a large crater in the ground, and in the center was Allen and the Earl, staring into each other's eyes as arm clashed with sword.

Wherever the sword came from, Kanda didn't care. However, the growing puddle around Allen bothered him to no end. He could smell the blood on his black coat, and it was only because of the coat's use as an armor that he didn't throw off the disgusting thing right then and there.

Allen was attacking the Earl relentlessly, despite the fact that it apparently hadn't much effect on the fat man. He was also speaking.

"I," he said, swinging his arm with every other word. "I will never forgive myself for fighting my comrades, but I cannot forgive you, either, for turning me against them."

"Oh?" the Earl said innocently, using the flat side of his large sword to swat Allen's small body away from him. Like a fly.

"Stop, Allen, stop!" Lenalee screamed from the distance. "You'll kill yourself!"

"Shut up," Road's voice said coldly, and Kanda heard a sharp gasp as the fighting resumed between the two Noahs and Exorcists.

"So be it," Allen said in a low voice. "I don't plan to go back anywhere."

Kanda cursed and took a step toward the crater, but a strong hand on his shoulder stopped him. Looking up, he was looking into the eyes of a tall man.

"Arystar Krory, why are you stopping me?" he demanded to the vampire like man.

"I am worried about Allen, too," Krory said, "but you have to be understanding. The pain of hurting the ones you love...is unbearable. Allen knows that more than anyone. He has to fight the darkness that was created inside him. Let him fight his battle, Kanda."

_Wise words coming from a used-to-be hermit_, Kanda thought.

"I've committed too many sins to turn back now," Allen told the Earl as the two continued to fight, weapons colliding with retina-burning flashes of light. "I will destroy you, and I will destroy myself. That is the only way for me to atone to what I have done."

Anger flared inside Kanda. For what, he wasn't sure. He rounded on Krory and demanded, "Letting him fight in own battle, you say, means letting him kill himself?"

"I-"

"If he destroys the Earl, that's fine!" Kanda yelled. "But just because he killed people does not give him the right to kill himself! The most reasonable thing to do-!"

He stopped and placed his fingers on his lips. Why was he getting so upset about the Moyashi? He shouldn't care...

But he did. Allen Walker was a comrade.

And, as Lenalee and Lavi always said, they were friends. Family.

"The most reasonable thing he could do is live for those people whose lives he ended," Kanda finished quietly. He ripped himself away from Krory's hand and approached the crater, stopping at the edge. The Earl's creme colored coat had splatters of blood on it, and Allen was standing in a pool of his own blood. He wouldn't last long anymore, not even long enough to destroy the Earl. He would break before that...

Stupid Moyashi, always doing such reckless and idiotic things. Kanda thought back to their first mission together. In the moonlit room, he was yelling at the boy.

_You..you're the most naive guy I've ever met! Don't you have anything important to you?_

_  
Something important to me...Ha, something like that, I lost long long ago._

"What about now?" Kanda whispered to the fighting boy beneath. "Don't you have anything important to you now?"

"_Please save him,_" a voice suddenly said in his head.

"Who-?"

"_Save the silly fool_," the voice pleaded. "_Save my son..._"

"...Keh."

But Kanda picked up his sword and ran down into the crater.

Despite the fact he did not have any reasonable arguments, Kanda always believed that this being called God was a figment of people's imaginations, and Innocence was a substance that humans had yet to come up with a scientific explanation for. He would never be able to argue why Allen Walker's arm deformed because of it, or why Arystar Krory craved blood because of his teeth. There certainly was nothing scientific about it, but Kanda did not like religion or superstition.

But the voice he heard was definitely Mana Walker's voice. How he knew, he didn't know or care, but he wasn't about to argue with a spirit that had already cursed one. He didn't fancy being cursed by a man he didn't know.

Allen was slowly but surely starting to lose ground. The Millennium Earl's sword pressed harder and harder against his arm, and the blood wouldn't stop spilling. The Earl raised his sword, ready to give the final blow, but it never hit.

As the blade gave a dull thud, it sank into the pile of debris where Allen was standing just moments before. The blood pooled there gave a small splash, and Kanda immediately whipped around and raised Mugen, not trusting the Earl's round body to stop him from being agile and quick. He wasn't the evil overlord for nothing. That, he was sure of.

He glanced down at the ghastly pale face below him. He never expected himself to be so close to the boy, ever, but here he was, holding the boy like a potato sack, albeit a bit more gentler than he would handle those heavy bags, over his shoulder, Mugen held tight in his free left hand, glaring at the fat man who was just about to kill him. He'd never felt protective, but here was living proof that he could actually feel that way about something.

Lavi surely was a bad influence. Damn softhearted fools.

"What," he growled at the boy, "the _hell_ are you doing, you idiot?"

"What?" Allen repeated, his voice a hushed whisper as he breath came out in pained gasps. "I'm...fighting-"

"Fighting, my ass!" Kanda yelled. "You're more like running to your freaking death!"

"Stop glaring at me like that, it makes me feel like I did something less serious than what I did," Allen smiled sheepishly, the sadness never leaving his eyes. "Let me down."

"And then what? Let you go back there? This is a _war_, Moyashi. Exorcists aren't replaceable."

"I know that-"

"_Then quit trying to kill yourself!_"

"Aw, Allen," the Earl said sweetly, snapping the two out of their rather one-sided argument. "You have such loving comrades. Don't you think it would be lovely if I allowed you to see the hatred in those dark eyes as you kill him?"

"What?" Kanda gasped, as the Earl suddenly appeared centimeters from his face, and in his shock, he didn't not react fast enough to stop the man from snatching Allen out of his hold. "You-!"

A ball of dark light materialized in the Earl's palm, held over Allen's bloodstained body.

"Something must be keeping in my dear little Noah," he said in a voice of mocked sadness. "I must call him out. Watch, Exorcist, as darkness enters this boy's body."

And the light was lowered, shoved against Allen's coat, and disappeared into the body.

Kanda could only stare, the wound in his shoulder finally starting to hurt.

* * *

Lavi: One message from authoress- OOCness is obvious here, and I'm sorry for not updating sooner! Woot, I only had a couple of lines here. That's too bad. But by the way you're fighting, you'll definitely die. 

Allen: Do you _have _to say that with such a straight face?

Lavi: (chuckles)

Allen: I haven't been here in a while. Let me read one. Here we go, from Otter-chan.

**Q: ** Will there be more?

Lavi: Yes, and probably a couple more after this. I want more show in the next two! (waves his arms)

Allen: (laughs) This one is from WritesRandomCrap. Aw, I don't think anyone could write crap...I mean, I've never even _tried _writing before...

**Q: **If Allen's dead who in the world will be the hero of D.Gray-Man?

Allen: (blanches) I'm still alive!

Lavi: (laughs loudly) Well, this is it for today. Let's go, Moyashi!

Allen: Don't call me that!


	16. 16th Night

The Apostle

16th Night: Komui Saves the Day

* * *

**Disclaimers**: I do not own any D. Gray-Man characters/settings. They rightfully belong to Mr. Katsura Hoshino.

* * *

_"He's calling him back!" Road exclaimed happily, shoving Lenalee away from her. Tyki did the same to his opponent, and the two Exorcists crashed into each other, falling to the ground in unison. The two Noah watched as the Millennium Earl's dark light sank deeper and deeper into their sibling's soul._

_"What the hell are you doing to him?" the Bookman boy demanded in fury, an arm around Lenalee's shoulders to steady her._

_"It was __your friend that stabbed him," Tyki replied. "The boy was unstable enough without going half dead, you know? Now that the Earl has to resort to __that, there's so guarantee that the boy's soul will be hole after this. It's not a natural awakening, and it never was, the boy's spirit was fragile enough."_

_"What do you mean?" Lenalee asked fearfully._

_"Basically, this has to be the last time we awaken him, or the boy will end up as an empty shell, his soul will be too battered to function, and he might become an existence worse than the Earl. It might even be too late...one can't measure the strength of another's soul beforehand," Tyki explained dismissively. "Even the first time we called forth Desire, we ran a high risk of breaking him. He was already scarred from three years ago, and then we scarred him again last December. The third time might be a bit too dangerous..."_

_"What will happen to him?" Lavi growled._

_"Nobody knows," Road answered. "This is always a gamble."_

_Lenalee broke free of Lavi's gentle hold and struggled to her feet. She didn't try to fight them, however, and only stumbled forward before screaming Allen's name. He wouldn't hear her..._

_"Allen, be careful," Road whispered to herself, gripping her hands to hide the trembling._

"The hell?" Kanda muttered to himself, gingerly stepping toward the Earl and Allen's limp body when the light died down. The large man was holding the boy carelessly by his collar, his sword held in his other hand. "What did you do?"

The Earl's smile widened, surprising Kanda that his permanently tilted lips could tilt any higher. The samurai narrowed his eyes in more surprise, however, when he saw tears glinting behind those round spectacles.

"It is a pity, such a pity," the Earl said with a sniff, shaking Allen's body slightly. "There is no response. Did he break?"

Kanda glared daggers at the enemy and repeated his question. "What did you do?"

But he received no answer. Maybe the Earl was planning to tell him, but before anyone could utter another word, Allen's limp body gave a sudden twitch, and a large claw appeared in the air.

Allen's left arm swung down on the Earl, throwing the man's sword high into the air and into the moonlight, swatting the body away from him. The Earl's body disintegrated suddenly into a cloud of dust, and for a moment Kanda thought he was defeated, but he soon reappeared a little ways off.

"He's still alive?" Kanda heard him say.

The samurai chose to ignore him and turned his attention to the chill running down his spine, the goose bumps on his arms. He looked over to Allen again, the boy who was the source of the malice that suddenly filled the night.

It was a familiar feeling, and Kanda knew he'd felt this chill before. In Matel, when the Akuma had killed Lala and Guzol.

"Was that the Noah back then, too?" he suddenly wondered.

"_Look up," _Mana's voice said, and a shadow fell over him. Allen was standing over him with his activated Innocence, a murderous glint in his gray eyes as he raised his weapon.

Kanda didn't have enough time to react before he felt a claw cut into his side, and then he was in the air, then crashing into the ground. He expected another attack, but what he heard was a horrible scream.

"No!" Allen yelled in a strangled voice. "Stop! _Don't!"_

"The hell...?" Kanda grunted, sitting up. He saw Allen, illuminated in the moonlight, kneeling down with his head clutched in his right hand, screaming incoherent words. His left arm was clawing at the ground in search of prey, and the boy seemed to be concentrating with all his might to stop the berserk arm.

_Did he break? _The Earl's voice rang loud and clear in his mind.

He _had _broken. Allen was being torn apart as the Noah and Innocence battled in him for control over his body. He would die if it continued this way, if the battle didn't end, Allen's body would be destroyed, along with his soul.

"_Save him," _Mana repeated.

But how?

"Kanda, are you all right?" a voice asked desperately, and Krory crouched down by him, hands placed on his shoulder. "What is wrong with Allen, Kanda?"

"How the hell am I supposed to know?" Kanda growled. "Earl said he broke."

"Is he...fighting himself?" Krory whispered. "He's hurt so many of the people he loves."

"What do you mean? He's got a dark side and a light side, apparently, and those are the two that're fighting."

"That means he _is _fighting himself," Krory corrected. "But I do not think the Noah will win this time."

"Keh."

Standing up, the samurai wobbled over to Allen's shaking form and sat down heavily, glaring at the small body. "Get a hold on yourself, Moyashi. Wake up."

"Go away," Allen mumbled painfully. "I'll hurt you if you stay here."

"Be glad it was me. Lenalee would be long gone by now," Kanda said coldly. "She's too fragile right now."

Allen cursed under his breath. He lifted his head, and Kanda saw his gray eyes were darker than usual.

"Get the hell away, you filthy human," the Noah's voice ordered. "Don't you dare touch me."

"Shut up," Kanda muttered, slapping away Allen's hand as it made to push him away. "Moyashi."

"Don't call me that," Allen whined, and the samurai wondered if calling a fifteen-year-old boy with a split personality a beansprout was a magical charm. The word Moyashi seemed to make the Exorcist in Allen Walker come out, as if it weakened the Noah every time it was uttered.

If he was Lavi, Kanda would probably have started to say the word repeatedly just to make sure. Although, the constant switching of personalities sure was getting on his nerves.

"Get up," he said.

"I don't want to fight you," Allen replied quietly.

"I'm not saying-!" Kanda began heatedly, but he was suddenly interrupted as a strong wind blasted him away from the boy. Cursing he stood up swiftly and looked around, spotting the Millennium Earl crouching beside the still struggling boy.

"You're too dangerous now, aren't you?" the Earl said to Allen, patting the boy's head. "Your wavering consciences will put us all in danger, we must get rid of you."

Allen flinched away from the hand and glared at the Earl, but there was no hatred in his eyes. He made to hit the Earl again, but the man's sword was faster as it hit him. More blood splattered the ground as Allen fell on his back, a deep gash in his right arm. Kanda realized the sword's edge wasn't as sharp as it looked; if it was, Allen's arm would have been cut off completely.

"I won't die," Allen muttered before he jumped at the Earl. The enemy retaliated with another of his dark orbs, but Allen's activated left arm suddenly let off a bright light, and its force was much much stronger. Both disappeared in the explosion from the clashing forces.

"Lord Earl!" the pink umbrella's voice screamed.

Kanda barely heard him, however, as his ears were deafened by the roaring of the explosion. He scrunched up his against the flying dust and nearly choked on the dirt when he gasped. When he saw it, the smell hit him like a wave.

The Millennium Earl was smiling down at Allen. There was a tear in his right sleeve, but otherwise he looked just as he did at the beginning of the battle. Allen, however, was hit in the chest by the full blast of the man's attack. Coughing up more blood- how much did he lose up to this point?- he fell backwards and would have hit his head on the ground if Kanda didn't catch him.

"Naughty boy, he is," the Earl said with a tsk.

"Shut up," Kanda glared at him. He felt something warm and moist against his injured shoulder: his coat's fabric had sucked up his blood. The pain was unbearable now, and his mind was a fuzz as he concentrated with all his might on glaring at the fat man. He tightened his grip on Mugen's hilt and lashed out at him.

"My my, what a violent man we are!" the Earl laughed. He kicked out, hitting Kanda's shoulder. The young man gasped in pain and clutched the abused wound. Every nerve in his body was rattling, and he felt as if he wouldn't be able to move anymore.

_Shit, _he thought, _we're both goners...for now._

"Are you ready to die now?" the Earl inquired.

_Will I survive after this? _Kanda wondered to himself as he felt Allen shaking beside him. Grabbing him roughly might not have been the best choice...but did it matter now?

It's already too late-

_What was that?_

Kanda's head snapped up, and the Earl sent him a questioning look he ignored as he looked around

Had he imagined it? The faint clashing sound, eerily familar, creepily familiar. No, it couldn't be. They sealed that thing away _ages_ ago.

_...clash...thump...click-clack...clash..._

No, it wasn't his imagination, but how could it be what he thought it was?

"No way," he breathed. "It _can't _be."

_How could it be Komurin?_

_"_Oh my _God!" _he heard Lavi exclaim then give a high-pitched, very un-Lavi-ish scream. "No! Stay away! Oops, you just crushed him-"

"Brother!" Lenalee yelled.

"It _is _him," Kanda muttered, feeling Allen look up weakly, his pale face making his gray eyes appear darker.

"Huh?" the boy said in a slurred voice.

"Kanda!" a voice called, and a large shadow fell over the three figures inside the crator. "Are you still alive?"

"Who'd die?" Kanda smirked as the robot, as large as a three-story building, crashed down on the rim of the crator.

"Ko...mui..?" Allen gasped.

Kanda glanced down at his white head and let out a breath of relief.

He just hoped Komurin wasn't too battered to fight against the Millennium Earl.

* * *

Lavi: That...was...mad. It was definitely short, but that's just crazy. I almost got smushed. 

Allen: Wow.

Kanda: (bored)

Lavi: I barely got any appearances- _again. _Actually, basically none. Man, did I get too much at the beginning?

Allen: Hahaha...

Kanda: ...Bloody monster.

Lavi: (gloom) Allen, you read the questions.

Allen: O-OK. This is one from u.sura-yume...(long pause) Oh, my _God_! I can't answer this...(throws paper at Kanda and joins Lavi in gloom)

Kanda: The heck? (reads silently)...The _hell_? (crumples up paper and chucks it at Lavi's head) This is not true!

Allen: (whines) I know, but I'm scared now...! I know the authoress is not doing pairings in any of her stories, and she definitely will not do this one, but I'm still scared!

Lavi: Huh? (looks at paper and smiles) I'll read it out loud!

**Q: ** Is there going to be a Yullen pairing in this fic ?

Lavi: It would've been cool if there was, but the authoress isn't into stuff like this. (secretly glad it wasn't him because Panda would kill him) Here's the next one, and it's from WritesRandomCrap.

**Q: **Hypothetically, if Allen died would Lavi be the main character? Cause he rocks.

Lavi: Mh-hm, I know I rock, but if Allen died I wouldn't want the part.

Allen: (wipes his eyes) Jemnezby has a question. Let's see...

**Q: ** I Allen gonna be evil again?

Allen: I don't want to be.

Kanda: Keh. If you do I'll definitely kill you. Here, read this one. (throws the next one at Lavi)

Lavi: Aw, why won't you read it?...Fine. digifreak51794, feel honored because the great Lavi-sama is going to read your question!

Allen: (glances at Kanda in question)

Kanda: (rolls eyes) He somehow ended up digesting some kind of alcoholic food in the kitchen.

Allen: ...Oh.

**Q:** is general cross or any other generals going to appear?

Kanda: If Froi Tiedoll even _dares _to show his damn a-!

Allen: Do I want to see Master Cross? (thinks) No. So I really hope he doesn't and stays whereever the heck he is.

Lavi: ...Hahahaha. I don't think anyone will come. Well, that's it for questions. Ta-ta guys! Whee...!

Allen: Lavi, let's go get you some coffee...


	17. 17th Night

The Apostle

17th Night: Ending

* * *

**Disclaimers**: I do not own any D. Gray-Man characters/settings. They rightfully belong to Mr. Katsura Hoshino.

* * *

_"Uwah," Tyki said as he and Road watched the robot crash down on Earth. "What is that thing?" It surely had surprised him when it stepped on him. Watching the robot, Tyki was glad he didn't have to touch it. He'd gone right through it, luckily, but anyone else would have died instantly. _

_"I thought Reever and the others sealed Komurin away," the red haired Exorcist muttered with an air of disbelief, awe, and fear. "What's it doing here? And are you sure we shouldn't be stopping Komui?"_

_"Hm," the girl said thoughtfully. _

_"That is so cool!" Road exclaimed happily. "Tyki Tyki, let's watch!"_

Kanda could hear the idiot Bookman and the twe Noahs in the distance through the whirling of Komurin's mechanism. The girl Noah was appaarently enjoying herself.

Allen was slumped against his arm in exhaustion as he stared up at the robot above him. Kanda sensed fear in him; Allen had almost gotten killed by two of the four Komurins that were made, so Kanda didn't blame him.Looking down at the injured boy beside him, Kanda wondered how much blood he'd lost already, and how much time he had left before the blood loss killed him.

Above them, the large robot was shooting its rays of light at the Earl, who was waltzing around and dodging all of the attacks. However, his body was a tad bit too large to easily avoid everything, and he had some difficulty jumping away when the light passed each other closely. Kanda was amazed: this simple robot was making the Earl break out in sweat.

"Why is that thing...still alive?" Allen whimpered, sitting up. "I thought Lenalee broke it?"

"Keh, how should _I _know?" Kanda asked him. "I haven't been here since you left with her to the rewinding town!"

Allen suddenly jerked and backed away, pulling Kanda with him. The place they were seconds ago suddenly exploded as Komurin's foot attempted to crush the Earl.

"Watch it, you fool!" Kanda yelled angrily up at the supervisor above them. Allen was breathing heavily beside him, an almost dead weight on his shoulder as he struggled to stay awake.

"Whoa whoa whoa!" the Millennium Earl sang, jumping up and down. "This is getting very troublesome. I think it might be time I take my leave-"

"Take your leave, you say?" Komui's maniac voice rang from the sky. "I do not think so."

"No," Allen whispered. "He can't win...have to stop him.."

"Moyashi?"

"The only one that can defeat the Earl...is an Exorcist. I can't let Komui die. No!"

Without warning, the white haired boy pushed away from the samurai and dashed toward the fight before them. Kanda called out to him when he noticed the missile of the robot flying at the fat enemy, and at Allen himself as he blindly ran at the Earl. Ebony hair flying behind him, Kanda kicked the earth and tried to stop the boy from running to his death-

They barely made it.

"Goodness me, you've made a mess now, didn't you, Allen?" the voice asked in a chipper tone.

The Millennium Earl looked down at them as Komurin stood motionless above them. There was a man in a white coat sitting beside it, seemingly harmless, even though the robot was in pieces of burning and melting metal. The Earl's coat was almost hanging by threads and the pink umbrella floated protectively in front of him, glaring at Allen as hatefully as he could. Kanda felt a hand on his shoulder as Allen sat himself up, spitting out blood as he did so. Kanda himself wanted to throw up. Komurin's explosion had hit him rather painfully in his stomach, and the force of it had injured him to the point that it would take around two days for everything to heal. He could still feel his shoulder stinging, but it was dulled because of the jagged piece of rock in his calf, and his hair stuck to his face with blood.

"Sorry Kanda," Allen said to Kanda softly before he looked up. The Earl's wide smile shone down upon him for a moment in the moonlight before a wind picked up: the clouds covered the sky's glowing spotlight, and darkness fell on the world. When the clouds passed, and the moon came out again, the man was gone.

So quiet, the night was.

So simply, had the Earl gone.

It was all over, so easily, so difficulty, so painfully, so peacefully.

Tears fell from his eyes as Allen's weak knees gave away and he fell backwards. Strong hands cushioned his fall, but Kanda, too, was injured. He grunted and unceremoniously dropped him to the ground.

"That hurt, Kanda," Allen said to him with a wince.

"..." Kanda glared at him before shorting. "Hmph. You deserved it at the very least." He swayed, and when he tried to lean on backwards, his injured shoulder twitched violently, and he lost his balance. In the end, both of them were lying on their backs on the damaged ground, staring up at the sky.

Allen raised his left hand over his left eye and chuckled. "But I can't believe you were able to wake me up," he said. "Mana warned me that I might have to kill myself, but..."

"Noah of Desire, my boot," Kanda grumbled beside him. "You were the weakest one I've ever fought. Apostle of two gods? You're kidding me."

"I have no idea how that happened. It's hard to think I was born with the Innocence and the genes of Noah. Am I special?"

"I'd say you're just cursed, idiot."

"I _am _cursed, look," Allen said and turned to the samurai. He could feel the nostalgic weight of Mana's curse pressing down on his eye, and he knew Kanda saw the pentagram as well.

_Thanks, Mana..._

Kanda stared long and hard at him before looking away. "...Which do you choose?" he asked finally.

"Huh?"

"Us or them, you still have the Noah in you, and the Earl won't leave you alone until the end. It's either he kill you or you rejoin them and he use you until you wither away. If you choose the Order, fine with me, but if you choose them-"

"You'll kill me?"

"Definitely and personally," Kanda grunted. "I'll cut you into slices of ham."

"You can't even _move."_

"Neither can you."

"Haha, true."

Allen sombered and fell silent again, feeling slightly comfortable as he lay under the sky with Kanda. Sure, the man was mean to him most of the time, but he _had _saved him.

"Um, thank you," he said with a bit of embarrassment. "For waking me."

Kanda was silent, then, "Keh."

That was the most he could get out of him now.

"They're gone!" somebody's voice exclaimed in the distance.

"Allen!" another called. It was warmingly familiar.

"Lavi?"

The redhead appeared in his line of vision with Lenalee right behind him. Both of them had apprehensive looks on their faces, but there was glee behind it shining vibrantly.

"Hey-sa, Allen!...You sane now?" Lavi asked.

"Are you all right, Allen?" Lenalee said worriedly.

"Lenalee," Allen gasped. He averted her gaze. "I'm sorry."

"Why are you apologizing?" she demanded.

"Because, I-"

"You nearly destroyed headquarters?" Lavi suggested, crouching down by him. "Well, you did, there's a big ol' gaping hole in Komui's room and Jeryy says the kitchen is half gone, and your room's been smashed- again."

"Eh?"

Allen tried to sit up quickly and fell back again. Lavi and Lenalee smiled at him before the former held out his hand. Lenalee was helping up Kanda, who let her aid him halfway up before his stubborness kicked in and he rose to his feet swiftly.

"At least you're home now, eh?" the Bookman said, patting Allen on the back.

"Welcome home, Allen," Lenalee smiled as Komui joined them. "Let's go inside and see who's OK and who needs treatment. You're one of them, Allen."

"I'll take care of you," Komui winked, and Allen felt a chill down his spine.

"Come on, can you walk?" Lavi asked. "I have to go find Panda and have a word with the old geezer.."

"I'll be fine," Allen told him and let go of the friendly hand. The group smiled at each other and began to walk toward the now smoking building they called home.

"_Not so fast, boy_," Tyki's voice said softly in Allen's ear, and strong arms wrapped around his waist as a smirk pressed against his neck.

Road swooped down before him with a sad and mischievous smile on her lips. "Hi," she greeted under her breath.

Allen heard his comrades gasping and screaming his name, but they couldn't get close as Road had set up a wall around them.

"What are you doing?" he asked the man behind him, struggling against his hold, to no avail. Tyki was just too strong for him.

"The Earl won't be happy or sad about this, you know, boy?" Tyki hissed, his embrace tightening. His hands were trembling slightly, barely noticeably. "So we've decided to help you out a little."

"What-?"

"As long as the Noah's on the surface of your mind, there will be times that you lose control," Road said matter-of-factly. "You don't want that, do you, now? You wouldn't want to hurt anymore of those humans, now that you've got your mind back."

"I don't," Allen said determinedly. "Tell me, what are you doing?"

"We really love you, you know that, don't you?" Road cut in. Tyki suddenly forced Allen, gently, to his knees, and Road put her arms around his neck, just as she did when he first met her in Miranda's town. "That's why we don't want to fight you when half of you is one of us."

"We're going to seal that Noah deep inside, got it?" Tyki said, and before Allen could react, everything disappeared into the darkness. The last thing he saw was the face of the young Noah. Road was smiling at him like always, but there were large drops of tears running down her cheeks. Unconsciously, he raised a finger to wipe them away...

Somebody screamed his name.

---------------------

_"Can you stand, Allen?" _Mana's voice asked.

"Mmm, yes," he groaned as he looked out at the checkered tiles. "How long have I slept this time?"

"_A couple of hours_, _are you ready to go back?"_

_"_Possibly, how is he doing?"

"_Sleeping. We've made an agreement."_

_"_What is it?"

Mana smiled at his son warmly. "_You will know soon. Now go, Allen, to your comrades.."_

_-------------------_

"Good morning to you too, sleepyhead beansprout. Now will you quit staring at me and snap out of your trance?"

The rough voice belonged to none other than Kanda. Looking around, Allen was confused to see a dark room with no personality, a broken window, and a strange hourglass sitting in the corner.

"Where are we?"

"They're using our dormitories because the wing was demolished. Because we had so many casualties- no thanks to you- I ended up having to take care of you. You're in my room now. Geez. It's going to smell of antiseptic for the next six months-"

"That's the most I've ever heard you talk, Kanda, did you hit your head somewhere?" Allen asked.

"Shut up or I might just shove this spoon up your nose!"

"Now now, that's no way to speak to a patient."

"Patience is virtue, Kanda."

"Komui! Krory!" Allen gasped as the two men entered the room.

"Hello Allen," Krory nodded, waving a red hand. It was burned slightly..."How are you doing?"

"Fine...what's going on?"

"Nothing to worry about, really," Komui said cheerfully, a bit too cheerfully. "You'll be staying here for awhile though, your injury was deep."

"Che. I'm not apologizing."

"Sure, sure..."

"Apologize for what?" Allen said. "What happened-?"

"Anyway," Kanda interrupt. "What are you two doing in my room?"

"Just some hourly reports of the going-ons. We've kept you locked up in the room ever since the Noahs handed Allen to you, so-"

"Noahs?"

"Will you shut up?" Kanda said harshly, knocking Allen upside the head. "You were there, quit acting like you have no clue what's going on!"

"But I _don't-!"_

"Kanda, come with me for a moment please," Komui said, and turning to Krory, he said, "Keep him company, all right?"

"Sure."

When the door closed behing the supervisor and the samurai, Allen immediately turned to Krory. "What's happened, Krory? What are you guys talking about?"

"Things happened, Allen," the tall man said, sitting down on the foot of the bed with a small smile. "You need not worry yourself about it. It seems the shock of it has made you forget, but if it were me, I would have wanted to forget as well."

"...Where are Lavi and Lenalee?"

"Lenalee is helping the medical squad on their rounds, she will be here soon. Lavi, I think, is helping the reonstruction with Bookman. Last thing I heard is that they were talking about prolonging Lavi's appointment-"

"Appointment?"

"Lavi was Bookman for a short while. I guess he realized he isn't ready yet," Krory shrugged. "He's back to being an apprentice, probably."

"It would be strange to call him Bookman."

"We used to. He never reacted to it."

Allen laughed.

"Hey, you're awake now! That's great!"

Lenalee walked in with a tray of bandages in her hand, followed by the short old man and the red haired youth, both of whom were wearing clothes more comfortable than the Exorcist uniform. They each held a toolbox. Allen thought Lavi lookd funny without the jacket and scarf, but didn't comment on it.

"Can you sit up?" Lenalee asked, and when he did, she was immediately unwrapping the bandages that were around his abdomen. "This wound in nasty," she said with an air of disgust. "But it would heal. Kanda probably missed the lethal points on purpose."

"Or so we hope," Lavi added. "Anyway Allen, once you heal, we're embarking on a mission. Get it? Got it? Good."

"What are we to do?"

"Find Cross, what else?" Lavi shrugged. "The guy didn't even show himself last December when-"

"Lavi," Lenalee said darkly.

"-when Komui held a drinking party for Christmas," Lavi finished nervously.

"He was most likely partying with one of his good ladies," Allen said grimly. "I don't really want to look for him, but I guess I have no choice...What's that?"

He scooted over on the bed and lifted up the blanket. A golden ball flew out from under it, and Timcanpy sat down affectionately on the crown of Allen's head.

"Tim!" Allen exclaimed happily. "What were you doing, sleeping by my foot?"

Lenalee tied a knot in the bandages and straightened up, smiling. The white haired boy was laughing as Timcanpy fluttered around everyone's head, and Kanda and Komui reentered the room silently with calm faces, joining the group. Kanda got swatted by Timcanpy's tail once, and that started another round of laughter.

The fight outside had scarred the earth deeply, but nobody could see it through Kanda's broken window. Lenalee gazed at the stained glass silently before she put her hand in her pocket, fingering the leather book inside. She'd kept the journal ever since Christmas.

_I ought to write about tonight as well, _she thought. _Give this one a happing ending_.

_So that, one day, when Allen is ready to remember..._

"Ouch! Quit hitting me, you God damned golem! Come back here!" Kanda yelled.

* * *

Allen/Lavi/Kanda: (throws down their scripts)

Allen: Over! I'm so tired! (falls over in exhaustion)

Lavi: Over 100 reviews for 16 chapters!This is great! Wonder how many this chapter will get? Let's party! (is drunk again)

Allen: We will be having a bit of a cast party after this chapter, I heard. I heard that's where we'll be answering any questions we have on this chapters. How about we get started with the ones for last chapter?

Kanda: Che. Here's one from u.sura-yume.

**Q: **Is there going to be any pairing in this fic ?

Allen: Oh, we had this one before. No, no pairings. (shakes head) The next one is from Catwarrior.

**Q: **who, besides obivously the Earl, IS going to die? And if there are no couples, then why does it sound like there are, like in the beginning, Lenalee was mourning like a lover for Allen and, now, Kanda seems a little OOC, though protecting Allen, would he really try like this to get him back instead of killing him?

Kanda: The Earl didn't die this time, but we _will _kill him. And if there's anyone to blame, blame the authoress for whatever OOC-ness you found!

Allen: No lovers, no couples, whatsoever. I don't really want to be killed by Komui either, no offence to Lenalee, really, but...

Lavi: Lemme read one! It's from digifreak51794!

**Q: **where's timcanpy?

Allen: (points to his head) Here! I'll answer iceflakes's question now.

**Q: **how is Komurin going to save them?

Kanda: He didn't. How many do we have? Here's one from Small INNOCENCE.

**Q: **Which Komurin is that?

Lavi: I think it was the second. Ooh, look, Shaveza wrote something about me.

**Q: **Okay, so Lavi -almost- got crushed...but Lavi says "Oops, you just crushed him-", so did -someone- get crushed?

Kanda: That Tyki Mikk guy, but it won't kill him, because of his abilities as a Noah. Che.

Allen: That was the last one. Wow, I think we had the most questions this time. And we were able to give straight answers to all of them. I'm so happy. (happy tears)

Lavi: See you next chapter guys! Now to find more booze...

Allen: _Lavi! _(chases after Lavi) No more drinking!

Kanda: (sighs and walks out after them)


	18. Epilogue

The Apostle

Epilogue

* * *

**Disclaimers**: I do not own any D. Gray-Man characters/settings. They rightfully belong to Mr. Katsura Hoshino.

* * *

Lavi: The story itself is over, but the authoress decided to add an epilogue...to clear up some confusions and just because she thought last chapter ended kind of lamely. Yay for us and for me because I want more show time! Read until the very end! (questions included)

* * *

"Oy, _Moyashi_! Get down from there! Your wounds haven't healed yet!" 

"Whoa! Don't scare me like that, Kanda! And why would _you _care?"

"Because I'm suspended from missions until you heal, and because the medical squad and Komui are _still _using my room as your hospital ward!" Kanda bellowed angrily, waving a fist at the white haired boy on the ladder high overhead.

"You're so selfish!" Allen called down at him.

"Just get the hell down here, you stupid beansprout!"

"I. Am not. A sprout!"

"Still going at it, you two?" Komui asked, waltzing into their argument as easily as if he'd just walked in on a pleasant conversation about the weather. He was one of the few people who were able to do that, considering that half of the Order was now near-terrified of Allen, and that nobody even wanted to go near an irritated Kanda in the first place. "Come on, Kanda, you should help out too, we know _you've _healed already.

"Yes!" Allen said indignantly from above. "You should stop complaining at me and help, Kanda. Oh, hi Lavi!"

"Yo," the once again Bookman-in-training greeted, trudging in with Reever, struggling under the weight of the lumber on their shoulders. "Why're you here, Allen? You're supposed to be in bed resting like a good boy, not working your butt off like everyone else is."

"Isn't it usually the opposite, though?" Reever piped up, he and Lavi setting the wood against the wall and taking a deep breath of relief.

"But he's injured," Lavi retorted.

"A hole in the stomach, yes, I just have no idea why I got it there," Allen told him, returning to his work. With his back turned to everyone, he didn't see the tired and forlorn looks on his comrades' faces.

Kanda stared up at the boy with a feeling of pity, guilt, relief, and anger. Raising his hand to his healed shoulder, he wondered what it would be like to carry a scar. Allen would always have the scar on his face, and the one on his abdomen- forever, until he died. Kanda's wounds left no mark after a few hours, a day or two at the most. There would be no scar, no red mark, just smooth skin as if nothing had marred it.

Ever since he could remember, Kanda's heart wore an armor. He barely got hurt, his heart was almost never scarred. Even during the past few months, he'd strengthened the armor to keep his heart from scarring.

There would have been a scar in Allen Walker's heart, if the two Noahs hadn't loved him so much. If they hadn't erased all memories he had of the past four months.

The man's name was Tyki Mikk, and he had visited him a couple of days ago, at the break of dawn, while Kanda was training, alone as usual.

_It was a silent, dark morning, but Kanda could feel the soft warmth of the half risen sun to the east. There was no wind, nobody was awake but him. A left rustled behind him, an unnatural and muffled sound of being crushed under a foot._

_He raised Mugen threateningly and demanded, "Who's there?"_

_"Calm down, Exorcist," the man said coolly, and Kanda waited impatiently as the footsteps got closer..._

_Closer..._

_Near enough to touch..._

_And Tyki Mikk pulled off his blindfold._

_"You're too trusting," he smirked as Kanda stepped back with a warning glare. "When I did this to the Cheater Boy, he nearly blew me up."_

_"Keh," Kanda snorted, lowering Mugen but still staying on high alert. "What do you want?"_

_"Just to talk, about him," Tyki said, pointing his thumb up in the direction of the black building. "Just in case any of you are keeping him under high security or anything."_

_"They haven't bothered."_

_"Good, it would have been a waste of time and energy," Tyki shrugged, lighting a cigarette. Kanda backed away, not liking the smoke that immediately reached his nostrils. It was bad for the lungs, he knew. _

_"Explain," he commanded._

_"Road and I sealed away that Noah in him, we did," Tyki said without hesitation. "We also pushed back any and all memories he had about ever meeting us, or the Noah awakening, or the fight from the other night. We couldn't erase it, of course, so there might be a day when it all resurfaces and hits him. When that happens, he might break. You still with me?"_

_"Break?" Kanda repeated, sheathing Mugen despite all of his sanity yelling at him. _

_"Because, even if he doesn't remember, what he did as a Noah still took a great chunk out of his heart and soul. If he remembers, the renewed memory is just another bullet to his heart and will create another damage, different from the ones that are already there. You _do _know what happens when a soul is damaged too badly, right?" _

_"It collapses, and the body becomes a shell, that's what happens to the Fallen Ones," Kanda said matter-of-factly. _

_"Yep, and we really don't want that happening to the boy-"_

_"You always call him the boy."_

_"Appearently, you always call him a beansprout. We're in the same boat."_

_"You don't want him to break, huh? You started it, and why should I care what you want?" Kanda demanded._

_"Well," Tyki smiled, but at the point, a harsh wind blew up, and Kanda didn't hear the words he said afterwards. His lips were moving, but Kanda couldn't ever get the hang of reading lips, and he didn't know if he cared what was said. Sakura petals (planted by Komui and Lenalee many years ago) rose up from the ground and blinded him. When everything died down, Tyki Mikk was gone._

"Here, hold this, Kanda!"

"Uh?"

Allen face peered at him from the other side of a wide wooden board. "Hold it, I said! I need you to help me carry this up!"

"Why would I help you?"

"Because Lavi and the others are all busy and you're the only one open because you, thinking you're almighy, are just standing there like a lazy king looking bored out of his mind and just being extremely useless!"

"Trying to start a fight, Moyashi?" Kanda growled, taking the board just because Allen looked as if he might drop it on his head.

"No, I'm just trying to make you useful," Allen replied, climbing up the ladder. Reaching the top, he began to pull the wood up after him. "Can you actually _help? _Not just stand there and hold it. Come on!"

"Keh," Kanda said under his breath, and pushing the board up, he climbed the ladder and joined in on the contruction as Allen handed him a hammer and set of nails.

After a few minutes of silence, Allen said, "What really happened that night?"

"What night?" Kanda grunted, cursing when he barely missed his thumb with the hammer.

"The night when I woke up in your room," Allen said. "Oh, and be careful, Kanda, you've already hit your fingers four times. Here, do you need bandages?"

"Why do you keep _bandages _with you?" Kanda demanded, but took the offered first aid anyway and roughly tied it around his abused fingers.

"Because I'm clumsy at construction," was the answer, then a pause, then, "just like you."

_"What did you say?"_

"Nothing, now will you answer my question?"

Kanda looked away from Allen's curious eyes and fell silent. They stayed like that for the longest moment until a voice suddenly said in a sing-song tone:

"Yu! Allen! It's dinner time! Come on down!"

The white haired boy squeaked in surprise and nearly fell down from his awkward position on the narrow ledge he was sitting on. Kanda caught him at the last moment and dragged him back onto stable surface. God be damned if the brat got hurt again, who knew if Kanda would ever be allowed to go on a mission ever again at the pace normal humans healed?

"Don't scare us like that, Lavi!" Allen whined down.

The idiot Bookman-in-training grinned from ear to ear and ignored Allen. "That was sweet, Yu! You saved Allen from falling to his death."

"If he _did _fall, the blame is on you for causing the fall," Kanda told him coldly and jumped down from the ledge, followed by Allen, who landed softly on the floor beside him.

Lavi laughed with a renewed sparkle in his eye, shook his head, and turned to walk away. Kanda attempted to follow him, but was held back when Allen grabbed him by his ponytail.

"Ow- dammit, _what?"_

"You never answered my question," Allen told him flatly. His eyes demandeda honest answer.

Kanda stared long and hard at him before tugging his hair out of the boy's grip and walking away. "You'll find out eventually. I'm not Bookman, so I don't have any answers to give you," he said over his shoulder.

"But it's something I have to know!" Allen called to him, following him with quick steps to keep up with his long strides. "I know it, ever since I woke up, a lot of the people here have been avoiding me or giving me fearful looks! Something must have happened that involves me!"

Kanda swatted away the hand that tried to grab his shoulder. "Don't touch me, Moyashi," he said. "It's not anything that concerns you at the moment, or me as a matter of fact."

"Do you even _know _what happened?"

"Of course I do, why else do you think Komui was talking to me about it?"

"Then why won't you tell me?"

_Because it's something that might just kill you, idiot._

_"_Because Komui's forbidden anyone from speaking it," Kanda said.

"You never care what he says."

"You'll eventually find out anyway," Kanda told Allen as they walked into the dining hall. "Now leave me alone."

"Kanda-"

"You really don't want to know," Kanda interrupted. "Now just go stuff your stupid face with food."

Yes, it wasn't anything Allen wanted to know, Kanda thought as he walked up to Jeryy and ordered his usual soba noodles. As he took the food and settled down at a table far away from many of the other Order members, he saw Allen sit down at a table by a cheerful Lavi and a tired Reever, his tray laden with countless dishes of food. Kanda silently hoped he wouldn't ever find out what happened. Not because it would hurt the boy, of course, he didn't really _care _what happened to the Moyashi. No, it was just that he knew some things were better off not known, and that the past four months was one of them.

"Yu! Come over and sit with us!" Lavi called cheerfully from the table. Kanda glared at him and didn't accept the invitation. Before he looked down, however, he caught Allen's eye.

"What do you want, Moyashi?" he growled.

Allen averted his gaze. "...Nothing."

_Maybe someone else will tell you, _Kanda thought to himself. _But it won't be me. It's troublesome, but apart from it, why would I tell you something when I know it'll cost us an Exorcist?_

No, he wouldn't say a word about it to Allen. Never. He would never be the one to break the soul of another.

_Even if he's a God damn annoying beansprout, _he added and slurped up his soba with a 'hmph'.

* * *

Lavi: Kyaaaa, even more OOC-ness on Yu's side. But you sound better this way. More...I dunno.. 

Kanda: _What?_

Allen: More nice, for once. Why do you have to be so mean all the time? Anyway, let's get started on the questions...this will be the last time we get to do this for the story. (sniff)

Lavi: Whoa Allen, don't start crying now! Come on, read xcadaverx's question...

**Q: ** did tyki and rhode erased part of allen's memories?

Allen: As said in the story, apparently they did.

Lavi: And thank God because what happened was horrible...(shiver) Moving on, I'll read this one, which is from Evrae Valkyrion.

**Q: ** The noahs will (at least) try to take Allen back...right?

Kanda: Tyki Mikk didn't mention it.

Lavi: What he said.

Allen: (nod) Here Kanda, read one at least...It's from Jemnezmy.

Kanda: Keh.

**Q: **Couldn't Kanda be a little more affectionate? Not in a lover's way, it just that you said that Allen "has never seen him so close to tears before". So that means he cares right?

Kanda: (hands tremble in anger)

Lavi: (laughs his head off)

Allen: Well? (eyebrows twitch)

Kanda: I. Will. Never. Be _affectionate. _To a beansprout. Like him.

Allen: (glares at Kanda)

Lavi: We have two questions from The8thSin.

**Q: **Allen was aware that he'd been asleep,and that he had the Noah in his head,as well as Mana,but he doesn't remember the battle or anything of the last year?how many chapters is this fic gonna have?

Allen: I was aware until the part where Tyki grabbed me. Then they messed with my brain _again, _apparently, and now I don't remember a thing. Right?

Lavi: Right. And this is the absolute last chapter of _The Apostle. _It's something to celebrate, but we're going to be lonely.

Allen: I heard I die in the next story the author's writing too. It's really sad.

Lavi: Shhhhh! That's supposed to be top secret!

Kanda: (snorts) No it isn't. Half the people she knows at school knows about it. Che. Here's one from Catwarrior.

**Q: **is there a party or something planned for Allen's coming back? or is he going to be put in isolation till they are sure that the noah allen is gone for good?

Allen: No party, no isolation. The kitchen was half gone and got fixed...only a few hours before the beginning of the epilogue. Here's the last question, from iceflakes.

**Q: **at the beginning part, you said that lavi's eye was really dull right? i suppose his eyes lit up again right?

Lavi: Lemme look. (reads the chapter) Here! It says my eye is sparkling! Yaaaayy! (eyes sparkle more)

Allen: (laughs)

Kanda: ...(rolls his eyes and pulls a rope that appeared out of nowhere) The End.

(curtains close)


End file.
